


Number ?: Dimensional Rebel

by ShadowOfASoul17



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Post-Zexal/ARC-V crossover, Travelling to another timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-09-14 22:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9207185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowOfASoul17/pseuds/ShadowOfASoul17
Summary: Shun wakes up in a hauntingly familiar place after his and Kaito's defeat (and Kaito's death) at Zarc's hands. Few of his questions can be answered, and he is unable to provide a lot of answers. Upon his arrival, Kaito and Mizael dream about demons, war-torn worlds, and someone who looks just like the Photon duelist. In order to prevent the early destruction of Shun's world, they have to work with the Galaxy-Eyes once again--but can they delay Zarc before it's too late?





	1. Inception

**Author's Note:**

> In the ZeXal timeline, 2 years have passed. Kaito's 20 (he's 18 in canon), Haruto's 10, Yuma and his friends are 14, and the Seven Barian Emperors are 16-17. 
> 
> In Arc-V, Shun is 18 and Kaito is 17. 
> 
> IMPORTANT: This chapter has been posted before Arc-V episode 137, so the details involving Shun and Kaito's duel against Zarc may be incorrect, and I will make modifications as I see fit. Also, the events in ZeXal II have been resolved (Chaos), and Astral has decided to stay with Yuma.
> 
> This canon-divergence fanfiction has been set in between episodes 137 and 140.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have written this chapter with enough edits to fit with the actual canon (of course, not counting the needed modifications to make this a canon divergence story), and I won't be changing anything else. Of course, we all know Sawatari and Crow are the ones who fall onto the roof, but canon doesn't apply anymore. Haha.

_They had failed._

 

_With identical screams of pain, Kurosaki Shun and Tenjo Kaito were blasted backwards, their life points reaching zero. The force blew them off the platforms from the Crossover field spell, sending their bodies spiraling down to the cold, hard ground far below. Shun's fall was broken quite painfully by a terracotta-tiled roof, broken shards digging into his back as he slid off the slanted roof and hit the pavement, agony racing through every cell in his body. He lay there half-conscious and dazed, too stunned to even cry out in pain, watching as his comrade suffered a much harsher fate._

_Kaito wasn't so lucky._ _Shun didn't know why Zarc had wanted to deal so much damage to Kaito, but he watched in horror as Kaito's back slammed against the lamppost, the force great enough to bend the metal. The tinkling sound of broken glass filled the air as the cover broke and embedded shards of glass into the Cipher duelist's flesh and drawing blood. With a strangled gasp as the sickening sounds of bones cracking filled the air, Kaito slumped to the ground, his eyes remaining wide open in surprise. Blood leaked out of a corner of his mouth, and his neck was bent at an unnatural angle._

 

_"Kaito!" Marshaling his strength, Shun staggered over to Kaito. "Kaito! Are you alright? Answer me! Kaito!" Shun fell to his knees beside his rival and comrade. He placed two fingers on Kaito's neck, hoping to feel a pulse, and felt...nothing._

_"No...way..." Shun tried again. Nothing. "Kaito! Don't you dare die!" But deep down, he knew that his rival was dead. A deep sense of grief settled upon him. First his home, then Ruri, then Yuto, then his comrades..._

_Behind him, Zarc laughed. **"So that XYZ duelist is dead? There will be no chance of any opposition now to my ruling the world. So, who are my next opponents? There's been Fusion, XYZ...are the next ones Synchro?"**_

_As angry and stricken he was after the death of  another one of his comrades, Shun knew he couldn't do anything. Right now, he was as useless as Sora or Edo., who were still unconscious._

_He glanced over at the unconscious blue-haired Fusion duelist. In his heart, he apologized to Sora for not being able to bring Yuya back. No matter how many times he and Kaito had called out to Yuya or Yuto, nothing had happened. But before he could do anything else, Yuya's pendant started to swing as if an invisible force was moving it, a bright blue light emanating from it._

_"What?" Shun held up the pendant, which shone brightly. "What's happening?" The light grew brighter and Shun was forced to shut his eyes. With a sensation that felt like he was falling, his perception of time faded away._

_And then...there was only darkness._

* * *

"Ah, another great day! I was definitely successful in my  _kattobingu_ today!" Tsukumo Yuma said as he cheerfully made his way down the streets of Heartland City after school.

"No, you were not." Mizuki Kotori replied. "You tripped up more than usual."

"I did not!"

"Yes you did."

_"I agree with Kotori on this one, Yuma,"_ Astral said, his ghostly form appearing beside Yuma.  

"Astral!" Yuma whined. "I thought you were on my side! I was totally successful in my  _kattobingu_ today!"

_"Observation #117: Yuma is incapable of admitting the truth when he fails his kattobingu. I shall remember that."_

"Can it, you! And lately, all your observations have been nothing but trivial stuff! Wasn't Observation 110 something about sibling relationships?"

_"No, it was on cats."_

"Whatever," Yuma grumpily retorted. "It was only 'cause I really didn't sleep too well last night."

"Yuma! Don't tell me you stayed up or something!"

_"No, he had a dream that caused him to fall out of his hammock. He didn't feel like sleeping for hours after."_

"Astral! I told you to keep that a secret!"

_"You told me to keep the contents of the dream a secret, not the fact that you had it."_

"When it comes down to this, Astral's logic beats all. Yuma, what did you dream of?"

"Something really, really creepy. I'm fine! It's probably from one of those horror movies that I watched with Shingetsu's recommendation. Or is it Vector?"

"Yuma!"

"What? They weren't that scary!"

"The last time you tried watching a horror movie with Tetsuo, he told me you ended up hiding under the covers and screaming every 5 minutes. Besides, Vector's a bad influence!"

_"His dream was not from any of the movies,"_ Astral said. 

Yuma glared at Astral. "I told you to stay quiet about the whole thing!"

_"I advise you to tell her. It may have some relevance to the future."_

"Hmph! Fine, I dreamed of some really creepy guy who looked like he was dueling. It actually wasn't that much of a nightmare, but he looked really creepy!"

"Creepy as in...?"

"Uh...he looked like some kind of dragon-human hybrid. Oh wait, he kinda looked like Vector's Barian form minus the face. His eyes were really scary. They looked like golden lizard eyes. His hair looked like a tomato."

"A tomato?"

"Green hair on top and red hair on the bottom."

"That doesn't seem too creepy."

"Yeah, but then he performed some sort of creepy summon and fused himself with 4 dragons to create an even bigger dragon! I woke up around that part."

"Do you think that's going to be a new threat?"

_"I highly doubt it,"_ Astral said.  _"There should be nothing left in this world, or the Astral and Barian worlds left to threaten the human world."_ He was about to say another word, but the sky above them started glowing red. 

"Astral, I bet you jinxed something!" 

Before they could move, a blue ray of light lanced down from the sky and struck the grass beside Yuma. The boy yelped and scrambled backwards. "What the heck is this?!"

_"Yuma!"_

Above Yuma and Kotori, the sky continued to rumble, red lightning flashing across the sky. The blue beam of light eventually morphed into a sphere, the intensity of the light growing and forcing the two humans to shield their eyes. Astral, however, observed the sphere from a distance, noting that something appeared to be inside it. After a minute, the sky went back to normal and the light disappeared, but a motionless figure was left on the grass. 

"Astral?" Yuma asked warily, eyes still closed. "Is it over?"

_"You might want to open your eyes, Yuma. It seems like the light left us something."_

"Eh?" Yuma opened his eyes. Seeing the lifeless person lying on the ground, he yelped again. "Who is that?" The unconscious person--now identified as a male--looked around 18, and wore a ragged blue trenchcoat over a black shirt and dark grey pants. A red scarf wound around his neck. A machine that looked somewhat like a Duel Disk was strapped to his left arm. His hair was blueish black with light green bangs. "Is he alive?"

Kotori went to the person's side and touched his neck, feeling for a pulse. "He's alive, but barely," she confirmed. "I don't think he's going to last long, though. He looks all beaten up."

"I'm going to wake him up," Yuma decided. He started shaking the person. "Hey, are you alright? Wake up! What happened?"

_"He's unconscious, Yuma. Better to call someone to help you transfer him to a medical centre."_

"There won't be any need for that. I'll take him to my place." 

Yuma turned around to see Tenjo Kaito and his ever-present robot, Orbital 7. "Kaito! How did you find out so quickly?"

Kaito shrugged. "Orbital reported on gravitational waves being detected in this area. I decided to investigate. So this guy appeared after the incident?"

"Yeah, he might have gotten transported here. You can help him, right?"

Kaito simply nodded. "The problem is why he was transported here. It's been 2 years since the war over the Astral and Barian worlds have ended, and Astral made sure nothing else was going to happen with the power of the Numeron Code. Technically, this was not supposed to happen. Astral, nothing abnormal is happening in the Astral World, right?"

Astral shook his head. 

The Photon duelist shrugged and picked up the unconscious teenager with seemingly little effort, grunting slightly. "Orbital, glider form."

"U-understood, Kaito-sama! But..."

Kaito gazed levelly at the robot. "But what?" 

"I-I'm not sure if I can hold your weight and this person's weight at the same time, Kaito-sama."

"It's only a short trip from here to back home. Hurry up!"

"Eek! Understood, Kaito-sama!"

Orbital 7 morphed into a set of wings and equipped himself to Kaito, allowing the former Numbers Hunter to fly into the sky with ease. "Yuma! You might want to call Ryoga and the other Barian Emperors! I'll contact you later about this guy's condition and hopefully more information about him!"

"Got it!" Yuma called, waving to Kaito. After the older duelist disappeared, he sighed and stood back up. "Well, that was crazy. I hope the guy's alright. Kotori, let's go back."

Kotori could only nod as she followed Yuma. Astral remained floating at the site where the mysterious person had appeared, a pensive look on his face.  _A significant event appears to have begun,_ he mused before flying off to join Yuma and Kotori.

 


	2. Reminisce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy chapter 2! Not a lot of action, but some of the Barian Emperors are guaranteed to show up in the next chapter.

_Shun dreamed._

  
_He dreamed about the days before Academia invaded. The days where his only concerns were to keep any creepy guys from eyeing his little sister (although secretly, he knew she and Yuto were crushing on each other, and he didn't mind that. Yuto was probably the only other guy he'd trust with his little sister, although he'd never say that out loud_ _). The days where he would duel for competition and for fun. The days where he, Ruri and Yuto could stroll down the streets of Heartland at midnight during summer break just to watch the amazing light shows, or simply eat ice cream with Sayaka and Allen, who often dragged a protesting Kaito with them. Shun liked those memories. Those were the memories before he had lost everyone dear to him._  


_But he knew the happy dreams wouldn't last forever. His heart burned with hatred once again as he dreamed about Academia's invasion. He remembered the tears spilling down his face as he found out about Ruri's kidnapping. Soon after, he had lost his best friend as well. The worst part was what Kaito had told him about Yuto and Yuya. Yuto wouldn't have become a demon. There was no way. And finally, he dreamed once again about the duel with Zarc. He didn't want to remember the details, but they came up anyways. He didn't want to remember the twisted version of Yuto's Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon. He didn't want to remember Kaito's broken form lying lifelessly on the grounds of the Fusion Dimension, with a crazed dragon lord that was once his best friend laughing behind him._

_He sank back into the welcoming darkness._

 

* * *

Kaito had taken the unconscious teenager back to his home, where he had left him in the care of the medical staff that his father kept around the house (Dr. Faker disliked hospitals), leaving strict orders that they were to contact him the moment they finished treating the teen. The Photon duelist had removed the Duel Disk-like device from the person's arm before leaving. After that, he had made his way straight to the laboratory where he knew his family and Chris would be. Orbital had ran off earlier, muttering something about Obomi and his kids. Kaito let him go, knowing Orbital wouldn't do anything else until he visited his cleaning-robot wife and two "children".

 

Haruto was the first one to greet him as he walked in through the doors. "Nii-san! You're back!" 

 

Kaito smiled at Haruto. "Hey there, Haruto. Where's Father and Chris?"

 

"Right here," his father called, where he was standing with Chris Arclight. "Did you find anything at the scene, Kaito?"

 

"An unconscious teenager around the age of 18 was apparently left behind after the waves disappeared according to Yuma and Astral. They were there during the time it happened. I left him with the doctors and picked this up for analysis." Kaito handed over the device to his father, whose eyes widened in surprise when he took it. 

 

"It's a Duel Disk! Most likely, the technology used to make this is more advanced than what we have, but it greatly resembles the D-Pad."

 

"I'd rather not directly look into another duelist's deck, but..." Kaito took the device back and attached it to his left arm. He recoiled in surprise as a surge of energy ran through the device, a slot opening to reveal cards and a glowing blade of light forming at the outer edge of the device. "This is..."

 

"I believe it's a holographic projection meant for the Monster Zone," Chris said as he reached out to touch the glowing blade. "But it has real mass..."

 

"Holograms with mass? That's hardly possible with our current technology. But if the person you picked up really was from another world, I suppose anything can happen," Dr. Faker said. "Kaito, would you mind deactivating the Duel Disk? I want to run some tests on it."

 

"How would Nii-san deactivate the disk if he doesn't know how?" Haruto asked as he watched Kaito attempting to pry the disk off. 

 

"I don't know how to deactivate it any other way, but this might work..." Kaito removed the deck of Duel Monsters cards and the holographic blade disappeared. "When he wakes up, we'll have to ask him. I wonder where the Extra Deck is..." 

 

A lid flipped open and Kaito took out the cards, glancing at the first one. "Raidraptors: Rise Falcon...it's a Rank 4 XYZ monster." He quickly flipped the card before he could read the effects, putting it and the other cards back in the container. "In the meantime, I want to find out more information about him, specifically..." He slid the disk off his arm and turned it over. "There it is. Well, this is proof other worlds have the same language."

 

"What, Nii-san?" Haruto asked curiously. 

 

Kaito knelt down to his brother's height, sliding the deck into his pocket as he did so. "Do you want to try reading the kanji on the back, Haruto?"

 

Haruto nodded excitedly, and Kaito showed the etched characters to him. "It says...Property of...Kurosaki...Shun. That should be his name, right?"

 

"Correct." 

 

"I'm going to contact Yuma. Father, can you, Chris and Tron take care of the analysis?"

 

"Of course," Dr. Faker said, taking the Duel Disk from Kaito. 

 

* * *

 

  
_"Ehh?! You found out that much information already, Kaito?"_ Yuma's eyes were wide with surprise. 

 

"It was simple," Kaito replied laconically. "Father and Chris are running tests as we speak. Did you tell the Barian Emperors?"

 

_"Shark said he wants the full details tomorrow. Vector, Alit and Gilag got into another fight and are trashing his mansion, so he and Durbe wanted to break them apart first before doing anything else. He said they had all felt the distortion in space, but we were already gone by the time they went to investigate. We'll be visiting you tomorrow!"_

"No, you're not. I'm not letting all the Emperors in. You'd destroy my home."

 

_"Shark knew you'd say that. He's only going to bring his sister, Durbe, and Iris. Mizael might tag along, but we know he has access to your home whenever he wants since you let him. Me and Astral are going to come as well."_

"Fine with me."

 

  
_"Oh, I've got to go. It's dinnertime! See you tomorrow, Kaito!"_ With that, Yuma shut off the call. 

 

Kaito rolled his eyes. Yuma hadn't matured a bit in the 2 years that had passed. But now wasn't the time to be reflecting on the habits of the overly-enthusiastic duelist. He had received a message earlier from the medics saying that they had stabilized Kurosaki Shun, and Kaito was going to go visit the teen. He took the elevator down the the small infirmary Dr. Faker had installed in their home, where a doctor met him at the door. "Kaito-san? The patient's still unconscious, but we have treated all his injuries."

 

"Good," Kaito said curtly. "Let me see the details you have on him."

 

The doctor gave Kaito the details that they had gathered so far, and the young adult narrowed his eyes as he read the list of injuries they had found on Kurosaki Shun. _Cracked ribs, sprained wrist, concussion, multiple lacerations and scrapes, bruises, and traces of electrical burns, probably from a stun gun. Was he tortured? Or are duels in his world more violent? A shockwave blasting a duelist back when they are defeated is a possible reason for some of his injuries._ Kaito handed the file back to the doctor. "May I go in and see him?"

 

"Yes."

 

Kaito strode into the infirmary, where Kurosaki Shun lay on one of the beds. The doctors had removed his scarf, trenchcoat and shirt in order to bandage his upper body. The removed clothes had been cleaned and were folded on a nearby chair. Now that Kaito had gotten a closer look at the unconscious duelist, he knew Kurosaki Shun had come from a war zone. A thin, lanky body that showed clear evidence of malnutrition, and a battle-hardened face was evident even as the duelist slept. _I wonder what happened in his world._ Kaito's eyes drifted down to Kurosaki's right hand, which was tightly clutching something. Gently, Kaito pried the hand open to reveal a blue crystal pendant with two silver wings crossing over the top. It was still attached to a thin silver chain. He slid it into his pocket with Kurosaki's deck. Just then, Kaito heard an unintelligible mumble from the unconsicous teenager, and raised his eyes to his face.   

Kaito watched as the expression on the Kurosaki's face changed, to one of...anguish? _He must be dreaming._ Kaito leaned closer as the unconscious person began mumbling words. "Ruri...no...run...Academia...unforgivable..."

 

_Ruri? Academia?_

Kaito turned his attention back to Kurosaki as he heard more audible words. "Yuto...can't....not...demon..."

 

The older duelist decided to make a list of words he had heard, fully intent on asking Kurosaki about the details once he woke up. His eyes widened in surprise as he heard his own name. "What?"

 

It was clear Kurosaki was currently remembering something painful. "No...Kaito...can't...die...can't...lose...rival...Zarc...you'll pay...."

 

Kaito shook his head. It can't be him, right? Maybe there was another Kaito in the world Kurosaki had come from. And judging from Kurosaki's words, this Kaito was most likely his rival, and had died. 

 

_So, who is Zarc? Strange name._

Glancing at the clock, Kaito decided to go back to his room. Haruto would probably be sleeping by now. Chris and Tron would already have left for their home, and they would come back the next day to do more research with his father. He took the elevator to Haruto's room, where he found the young boy sitting on his bed. Haruto's face lit up as he saw his older brother. "Nii-san!"

 

Kaito gently ruffled his brother's hair. "You should be sleeping."

 

As if on cue, Haruto let out a yawn, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "I was waiting for you to come say good night." 

 

"Well then, good night." Kaito pulled the blanket up to Haruto's shoulders. "Have you seen Orbital anywhere?"

 

Haruto shook his head, eyes closing. "He might be in the lab with Father. Good night, nii-san."

 

"Good night, Haruto." Kaito quietly exited the room, the doors sliding shut behind him. 

 

* * *

 

_He stood in...Heartland City?_

_All around him, smiling people talked and laughed. The iconic Heartland Tower stood proudly in the distance. Adults strolled down the colourful streets. Children dueled in parks and in open areas. It was Heartland City, but not the one he knew. No one wore D-Gazers. The children's Duel Disks had holographic blades for the Monster Zones instead of D-Pads._

Where am I?  _He wondered._  


_A shout caught his attention. "Yuto! Over here!" He turned his head to see a girl with long dark purple hair waving excitedly at someone in the distance. Beside her sat a familiar person...Kurosaki Shun?! Unlike the hardened face Kaito had seen on the unconscious teenager, Shun had a fond smile on his face as he watched the girl enthusiastically dash over to a figure in the distance._

_The girl came back seconds later, tugging a boy with spiky black and purple hair with her. "Nii-san, let's go!"_

_Shun got up and grinned at the boy. "What happened to you, Yuto?"_

_The boy smiled sheepishly. "I got lost?"_

_Shun laughed. "You mean you got held up at card sales and ended up forgetting the way here, so you had to call Ruri three times to confirm the place?"_

_Yuto spluttered. "I did not!"_

_"Nii-san, stop teasing Yuto. Come on, let's go!"_

_"Whatever, you say, Ruri."_

  
_Kaito watched as the three disappeared off into the distance._ So Ruri is Kurosaki's little sister, while Yuto is a friend,  _he mused._ I wonder what happened to them. 

 

_The scene before him dissolved, and Kaito's eyes widened at the new scene before him. A grey city lay in ruins, broken buildings and rubble everywhere. The Heartland Tower had collapsed, the heart symbol cracked and grey. Fires raged in the distance, and Kaito could hear people screaming in fear and anguish._

This can't be the Heartland I saw earlier....

_Kaito watched as a woman stumbled in front of him, face twisted in fear. "Spare me!"_

_Kaito looked at the person in front of him. A boy no older than Yuma stood with a sadistic smile on his face. He was dressed in a red school uniform. His Duel Disk was purple, a sharp sword as the holographic blade for the Monster Zone. "For Academia!" The boy pressed something and the woman shrieked as she turned into glowing motes of purple light. The boy then took a card out of his Duel Disk and shook it, grinning as the image of the terrified woman appeared on the card._

  
_Kaito recoiled in horror. The woman had just been turned into a card in front of his eyes._ This can't be happening, _he thought. But before he could move, a huge giant (made out of gears) stomped into the scene, causing the boy to run off. The giant turned its glowing red eye directly at Kaito, but he stood his ground, staring back at the giant. The giant raised one arm and fired a beam directly at him. Kaito felt himself being engulfed in flames, and he screamed as he was blown back...._  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the only time I'll update so quickly...happens when you have too many ideas for one specific story. At most, there will be two weeks in between updates.


	3. Links

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know I said there'd be at most 2 weeks in between updates. I lied. Sorry. Here's a somewhat longer chapter to make up for it.
> 
> Also, I watched Arc-V 140 and it was totally anticlimatic (in my opinion). Just saying, I will make my own ending for Arc-V. You have been warned.

 

He was engulfed in flames. Searing heat consumed him, and he briefly wondered how he was able to be burned in a dream. The thought disappeared as quickly as it came, and Kaito couldn't think any more as the pain intensified. 

 

A roar of a dragon blasted away the flames, and the pain faded, leaving the duelist floating in what looked like outer space. Kaito looked around in awe and saw a familiar-looking dragon behind him. "Galaxy-Eyes...?" He wondered out loud. His eyes widened as he got a closer look. "You're not...Photon."

 

The great dragon shook its head. While it looked somewhat similar to Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, it was a different dragon. The dragon bowed its head, and Kaito noted what looked almost like sadness in its large eyes. Before Kaito was able to do anything, a bright iridescent flash of light appeared and faded to reveal Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. The dragon moved protectively in front of Kaito, and growled at the unfamiliar dragon. The other dragon growled back, and it started to speak in what sounded like a harsh, guttural language. Kaito understood every word, even though the language was clearly not human. 

 

_"Photon, you worry too much. I wasn't going to do anything to him."_

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon growled again. _"Leave my master alone, Cipher. I don't care how much he looks like your dead master, you're not taking him."_

_"Photon, do you wish for the death of another Galaxy-Eyes? My world is on the verge of destruction, and without my master, my life force is tied to the collapsing world."_

_"Isn't Scarlight halting it?"_

_"He will be defeated soon. I know the rebellious one sleeps in your world. With his abilities and yours and Tachyon's help, I can stop the demon dragons."_

Kaito's dragon fell silent, and Kaito imagined that it was being pensive. Himself, he was shocked at the contents of the conversation.

 

With a snort, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon replied. _"Fine, but only for_ _****_****his _sake. When the rebellious one awakes, I will call Tachyon and aid you."_

_"Thank you, Photon. And...succeed where I have failed."_

_"Of course."_

With a bright flash, the other dragon disappeared. Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon turned to Kaito, and spoke. _"You are lucky to be one of the few Dragon Tamers who understand our language, my master. I will return you to the human world now. Your companions are quite concerned."_

"Wait!" Kaito said. "What did you two mean by the rebellious one? What are the demon dragons?"

 

_"All will be explained in due time, my master. Go."_

Kaito found his vision darkening until he could no longer see his dragon. His consciousness slipped away. 

 

* * *

 

 

When Kaito slowly opened his eyes, the first person he saw was a teary Haruto. Upon seeing his brother awake, Haruto cried out in relief and proceeded to strangle Kaito in a hug. "Nii-san! You're awake!" Behind him, he saw his father and Chris, each letting out sighs of relief. 

 

"Haruto? Father? What happened?"

 

Haruto pulled away briefly. "You don't remember anything?"

 

"No."

 

"You were screaming in your sleep and thrashing around. It sounded like you were being tortured," his father explained. "Are you alright now?"

 

"Yes..."

 

"What he means to say," a familiar voice said, "is that you were screaming and thrashing around for the past half hour as if you were possessed. We were going to sedate you before you suddenly calmed down by yourself." Mizael leaned on the wall far away from Kaito, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. A bruise was on his cheek. 

 

"Mizael? What happened to you?"

 

Mizael snorted. " _You_ happened. I was trying to restrain you and I got hit from all that flailing. What happened?"

 

Kaito muttered an apology before clearing his throat. "I think I was transported to another world."

 

"The Barian World?" Mizael was instantly on edge.

 

"No. Do you know about the duelist we picked up yesterday?"

 

"Yeah, Faker told me. His name's Kurosaki Shun and apparently he was transported here from another world. Were you dreaming of his world?"

 

"I think I was." 

 

"Well, this is an interesting development," Chris said. "Kaito, now that you're all right, can you describe what you dreamed about?"

 

Kaito nodded as he described his dreams, deliberately leaving out the conversation between the two dragons. Everyone's eyes were wide with surprise when he finished. Chris recovered first. "I'm surprised you dreamed about that. Kurosaki Shun had yet to wake up. I'm going to do some more research with Father." He walked out after a quick, reassuring smile sent Kaito's way. 

 

"I'll have to go with him," Dr. Faker said. "Kaito, take it easy today. Don't strain yourself."

 

"Understood, Father."

 

Now that the adults left the world, Kaito directed his attention to the quiet Haruto, who hadn't let go of him yet. "Haruto, go and get dressed. I'm fine."

 

Haruto shook his head. "I don't want to leave Nii-san."

 

Kaito gently pried Haruto's hands off him and looked him in the eyes. "How about this: you get dressed, and I'll stay with you for the rest of the day. Deal?"

 

Haruto considered it, and nodded. "Deal." He slipped off Kaito's bed and beelined towards the door. 

 

Before Mizael could leave, Kaito stopped him with a look and motioned him over. "What?" The blond teen asked. 

 

"I didn't tell Chris and Father one thing. It involves our dragons."

 

Mizael drew in a sharp breath. "Faker didn't want to mention it earlier, but Photon was glowing just before you calmed down."

 

"I knew it."

 

"So? What happened?"

 

"After I was blasted by the flames, a dragon saved me. A Galaxy-Eyes. And no, it wasn't mine or yours. I think it was called...Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon."

 

Mizael's eyes widened.

 

"After he saved me, Photon appeared and started talking with him. It wasn't in any human language, but I understood everything. According to Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, his world is being destroyed. He needs Photon's and Tachyon's help to save it. He also talked about a rebellious one sleeping in his world."

 

"Anything else?" 

 

"Photon said that I look very similar to Cipher's dead master."

 

"I see. Well, I'm surprised you understand the language of the dragons. It took years for Jinlong to teach me. Must've been your bond to Photon. As for Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon...my guess is that he's from the same world as Kurosaki Shun. But why did he appear now?"

 

"Who knows," Kaito said as he swung himself out of his bed. "By the way, when did you get here?"

 

Mizael's face darkened into a scowl. "2 AM. Vector accidentally destroyed Rio's bedroom when he was trying to hide from Alit and Gilag and she went on a rampage. The whole mansion's trashed. It took Ryoga, Durbe and I around an hour to finally calm them down, and at least 3 more hours to clean up."

 

Kaito smirked. "Looks like you had a rough night. When is Ryoga coming over?"

 

Mizael shrugged. "It's going to take a while to restore everything back to its old state, plus Ryoga's going to have to keep Rio from murdering Vector. Maybe in an hour or maybe in the afternoon."

 

"That's plenty of time then. Let's go down to the infirmary."

 

"Watching someone sleep is not my idea of amusement."

 

"He might wake up soon. Also, don't tell anyone else about our dragons." 

 

"Alright." Mizael didn't look convinced, but he followed Kaito out of the room, where Haruto was waiting with Orbital. Haruto's face lit up as he saw Kaito. "Where are we going to go, Nii-san?"

 

"To the infirmary. We're going to visit Kurosaki Shun." 

 

"Okay!" 

 

* * *

 

 

"His condition hasn't changed," Kaito noted as the group entered the infirmary. 

 

Mizael rolled his eyes. "It's been one day. He probably doesn't want to wake up."

 

"Mizael might be right, nii-san." Haruto had left Kaito's side and was standing beside the unconscious Shun. He reached forward with a small hand and took the teen's larger hand in his. "He's been through a lot...I can sense it."

 

"What are you feeling, Haruto?"

 

"I sense a lot of pain," Haruto whispered. "He's lost a lot of friends, probably family as well. There's definitely some anger, and hatred...there's also a lot of grief and some desperation. Wherever he came from, the world hasn't been kind to him."

 

"The question is where he came from and what's happening to his world," Mizael said. "And how did he end up here, of all places? The Astral and Barian worlds are only linked to the human world. For all the centuries I spent as a Barian Emperor, there were no possible gateways to other worlds besides here."

 

"I'm betting Astral would say the same about the Astral World," Kaito said. His hand fell down to where he kept his deck, and absently started running his hand over it. "If he's still unconscious tomorrow, there's a chance he's in a coma."

 

"Or maybe he's not human and just doesn't want to wake up in the presence of humans," Mizael suggested. "Just because he looks human doesn't mean he is one. After all, we know some non-humans can also be duelists."

 

"Like you, Mr. Former Barian Emperor?"

 

"Oh, shut up."

 

"He is human," Haruto said. "I know that for sure."

 

Before Mizael could reply, a chirping of a D-Gazer sounded. With a surprised expression, he took out his D-Gazer and answered it. "Durbe? What's wrong?"

 

_"We're done cleaning up, no thanks to you. Ryoga, Rio, Iris and I are coming here now, and we'll pick Yuma up on the way."_

"Well, excuse me for wanting some peace and quiet. What about the other 3?"

 

_"All knocked out with sleeping pills. They won't wake up for a while."_

Mizael laughed. "Alright, get over here. We have a lot of information to tell you."

 

_"Hai, hai."_

Mizael ended the call and turned to Kaito. "They're on their way."

 

"I heard that," Kaito said dryly. "Haruto, let's go. Orbital, tell Father we're getting some guests."

 

"Understood, Kaito-sama!"

 

"Hey, where are you going?"

 

"Back upstairs."

 

Mizael quickly followed Kaito as he exited the infirmary. 

 

None of them saw Shun's hand twitch. 

 

* * *

 

"All right, we're all here!" Yuma cheered as he flopped onto a couch in Kaito's living room. "Kaito, you never told me you had such a great home!"

 

"There was no reason to tell you," Kaito said flatly. 

 

  
_"So? What information do you have for us, Kaito?"_ Astral asked, his ghostly form floating in a sitting position next to Yuma. 

 

"First off, are there any gateways to any other worlds besides the human world in the Astral World, Astral?"

 

  
_"No,"_ Astral said, shaking his head. _"This is the only world that connects with the Astral World."_

"I see," Kaito said. 

 

"So? What's with the questions about the Astral World?" Ryoga asked, leaning against the wall. 

 

"I assume Yuma already told you he found an unconscious person at the site where the gravitational waves were sensed? We've confirmed he's from a different world, and he's apparently human."

 

"His name's Kurosaki Shun," Haruto added from the corner where he was playing a game with Iris. "He's a duelist with XYZ monsters."

 

"XYZ monsters, huh? Did you look through his entire deck already?"

 

"Of course not. I took one look at the Extra Deck, but that was it. His Duel Disk is in the laboratory for analysis."

 

"What else is there?" Durbe asked.  

 

"The technology in his world is quite advanced. Instead of a built in Monster Zone, there's a holographic blade with actual mass. From last night's tests, the Duel Disk is designed to set a Field Spell once activated in a duel. It has the capability to traverse dimensions as it has technology similar to ours in that sense, and there is a mysterious function that was deactivated. We'll probably get more information when he wakes up."

 

"Holo-what?" Yuma asked. 

 

  
_"Holographic,"_ Astral replied. _"So it's similar to AR Vision, but without the need for D-Gazers or tattoos of any kind?"_

"Yes, with mass included," Kaito replied. 

 

"Sounds interesting," Ryoga said, "but why is he here?"

 

"That's what we're trying to figure out now," Kaito replied. "Anyways, if you want to see him, he's down in the infirmary."

 

"Might as well," Ryoga said. "I originally didn't want to come over anyways, so we'll just make the best of it."

 

"So why did you come over?" Kaito asked. 

 

"Isn't that obvious?" Rio asked. "None of us want to deal with Vector. Oh, and we're still going shopping later, Ryoga, so don't forget that."

 

Ryoga groaned. "Whatever. I don't get why you need to buy ten thousand more outfits anyways."

 

"Maybe since Vector destroyed them all?" Rio retorted, her eyes glowing. 

 

Ryoga recoiled and sighed. "Alright, alright. Where's the infirmary?" 

 

"Follow me," Kaito said. Haruto promptly joined him, although he continued to chatter with Iris about random topics. He strode out of the room, with Mizael, Ryoga, Rio and Durbe following him. 

 

"Ah! Wait for me!" Yuma called as he scrambled after them.

 

* * *

 

Ryoga's eyes narrowed as he observed Kurosaki Shun. "He came from a warzone."

 

"He did."

 

"Wait, how did you know that?" Yuma asked.

 

Ryoga had a distant look in his eyes as he answered. "Instinct."

 

"What else did you find on him besides his Duel Disk?" Durbe asked. 

 

"A pendant." Kaito took out the pendant and showed it to the others.  

 

"Whoa, it looks so cool! Almost cooler than the Emperor's Key!"

 

  
_"Actually, I find it more interesting than the Emperor's Key. The metal and the crystal itself are finely carved."_ Astral floated closer to the pendant, studying it with a scrutinizing eye. 

 

Before Kaito could reply, he noticed Rio with a red aura glowing around her, her eyes blank but open. "Rio?"

 

**"Beware."**

"Rio?" Ryoga asked uncertainly. 

 

**"The 4 worlds are dying. The wielder of the four dragons will destroy them all."**

"4 worlds?" Durbe questioned.

 

Rio slowly walked forward until she was right next to Shun. **"Rebellious falcon, lead the two tamers to your home. I know you will wake soon. The power of 3 will be able to hold off the destruction of integration until the true defender wakes. But you must hurry. One will not last much longer."**

"Tamers?" Kaito and Mizael exchanged glances.

 

  
_"Where is his home?"_  Astral asked levelly. 

 

Rio turned and looked Kaito and Mizael straight in the eyes. **"The pendulum has swung to one side; now it must swing to the other. It will guide you."**

Upon saying the last word, Rio shuddered and would have collapsed, had Ryoga not caught her. Her eyes blinked open and she looked confused. "What happened?"

 

"You just made another prophecy," he replied. 

 

"What was it about?"

 

"Something that can't be answered until Kurosaki Shun wakes up," Kaito answered. 

 

  
_"What confuses me is the warning of the destruction of 4 worlds,"_ Astral mused. _"The human world is safe right now. The Astral and Barian worlds have been fine after they fused into one world. Does this mean Kurosaki Shun's world has 2 dimensions?"_

"We'll know the answers soon," Kaito answered. "For now, get out of my house; it feels way too crowded in here."

 

Rio huffed. "There are nicer ways to get people out of your home, you know."

 

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "I'm simply giving you more time to stay in the mall so you can torture your brother instead of me."

 

"We need to get going anyways," Ryoga cut in before Rio could snap a reply back at Kaito. "Come on, Iris, Durbe, Mizael."

 

"Hai, ou-sama!" Iris said a cheerful goodbye to Haruto and promptly joined Ryoga's side. 

 

Durbe said nothing, nodding an affirmative. 

 

"I'm staying behind," Mizael announced. "I'm in no mood to deal with Vector."

 

"Good," Kaito said, "because you're going to keep watch over Kurosaki Shun for me."

 

"Huh?! Why do I have to do that?"

 

"Because I'm going to be busy running analyses on this pendant, and Haruto's coming with me. Besides, if Rio's prophecy is right. Kurosaki's going to wake up soon, and we'll need someone to keep watch to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

 

Mizael scowled, but pulled up a chair beside the bed and took out his deck, ignoring everyone else in the room. 

 

"Thank you, Mizael," Kaito said before he looked at the other Barians and Yuma. "The rest of you, out. I'll update you guys later."

 

"Hai, hai."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shun will wake up in the next chapter. He's been sleeping for too long.


	4. Wake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Shun's going to wake up! Thanks for the support so far! 
> 
> Also, the first part of this chapter will focus on Shun's thoughts as he hears the conversations Mizael and the others have in the infirmary, so feel free to skip it if you think it's repetitive (it's not that repetitive, but whatever).

As he slept, Shun could faintly hear voices talking above him. He was able to make out the majority of the sentences that were spoken, and was able to tell apart the different voices. Surprisingly, one of them sounded exactly like Kaito. 

 

  
_"His condition hasn't changed."_ The voice sounded exactly like Kaito, but Shun knew it couldn't be Kaito--the Cipher duelist was dead, and the Raidraptors user did _not_ believe he was in the afterlife. Not yet, anyways. 

 

  
_"It's been one day. He probably doesn't want to wake up."_ The voice was an unknown male voice, but Shun thought he could hear curiosity and arrogance in the male's tone. 

 

  
_"Mizael might be right, nii-san."_ This voice...Shun wanted to gasp in shock. It was the voice of Tenjo Haruto. But how could this be? Sayaka had told him that Kaito's entire family along with Haruto had been carded, which led to Kaito's one-man rampage and personal vendetta against Academia in the first place. How was he alive?

 

  
_Maybe I really am dead,_ he thought. 

 

Shun heard Haruto speak again. _"He's been through a lot...I can sense it."_  


The person who had Kaito's voice spoke again. _"What are you feeling, Haruto?"_  


_"I sense a lot of pain...he's lost a lot of friends, probably family as well. There's definitely some anger and hatred...there's also a lot of grief and some desperation. Wherever he came from, the world hasn't been kind to him."_

  
_When hasn't it been kind to me?_ Shun thought bitterly. _I've lost my only family, my home, my friends, and now I_ ' _m most likely dead while my comrades are busy fighting what Yuto and Yuya have become._  


  
_"The question is where he came form and what's happening to his world."_ The unknown male voice spoke again. _"And how did he end up here, of all places? The Astral and Barian worlds are only linked to the human world. For all the centuries I spent as a Barian Emperor, there were no possible gateways to other worlds besides here."_  


_Astral world? Barian world? Where the hell am I and what is going on?!_

  
_"I'm betting Astral would say the same about the Astral World."_ There was Kaito's voice again. _"If he's still unconscious tomorrow, there's a chance he's in a coma."_  


_Coma? Me? The hell is going on?_

  
_"Or maybe he's not human and just doesn't want to wake up in the presence of humans."_ There was the other male voice--Shun decided to just call him Mizael for convenience's sake and it appeared to be his name anyways. _"Just because he looks human doesn't mean he is one. After all, we know some non-humans can also be duelists."_  


  
_Take that back! I_ am _human!_ Shun really wanted to wake up now.

 

  
_"Like you, Mr. Former Barian Emperor?"_ That was Kaito, sarcasm lacing his tone.

 

  
_"Oh, shut up."_ Mizael's voice sounded annoyed. 

 

  
_"He is human,"_ Haruto's voice responded _. "I know that for sure."_  


Shun heard a chirp that sounded strangely like a cellphone ringtone, and heard Mizael's voice answer it. _"Durbe? What's wrong?"_  


_Who the heck is Durbe?_

Shun was unable to hear the person on the other side, but he certainly heard what Mizael said. _"Well, excuse me for wanting some peace and quiet. What about the other 3?"_  


The other person said something before Mizael laughed and replied. _"Alright, get over here. We have a lot of information to tell you."_  


There was a bit of silence before Shun heard Mizael address Kaito. _"They're on their way."_  


Kaito's tone was dry as he replied. _"I heard that. Haruto, let's go. Orbital, tell Father we're getting some guests."_  


_Kaito's father is also alive? And who is Orbital?_

Shun heard an electronic-like voice of a robot _. "Understood, Kaito-sama!"_  


_Huh?_

  
_"Hey, where are you going?"_ Mizael sounded confused.

 

_"Back upstairs."_

  
_Dammit,_ Shun thought. _Need...to...wake up..._  


His hand twitched involuntarily. 

 

It was a while before he heard more voices. Some were familiar, and some were completely unknown to him. 

 

  
_"He came from a warzone."_ This voice belonged to another male, who sounded slightly younger than Kaito, but sounded like it belonged to someone who had experienced war, just like him. 

 

  
_"He did."_ There was Kaito's voice again.

 

  
_"Wait, how did you know that?"_ This voice definitely belonged to a kid. Heck, he almost sounded as young as Haruto, but Shun knew he couldn't make any judgments solely off voice. 

 

  
_"Instinct."_ There was the other voice again. 

 

  
_"What else did you find on him besides his Duel Disk?"_ This was another male. But Shun was busy thinking of other things. 

 

_My Duel Disk! Did they take it? Dammit..._

  
_"A pendant."_ This was Kaito's voice again. 

 

_Damn, they also have Yuya's pendant now? If this is a messed up plan from Academia, I'm pretty much defenseless. Think, Shun. What can you do when you actually wake up?_

_"Whoa, it looks so cool! Almost cooler than the Emperor's Key!"_

There was the kid's voice again. At least that meant the pendant hadn't been destroyed or anything. 

 

The newest voice sounded disorienting. It actually sounded like a ghost with its breathy voice. _"Actually, I find it more interesting than the Emperor's Key. The metal and the crystal itself are finely carved."_  


  
_Wonder what the Emperor's Key is._ At this point, Shun resigned himself to just listening. He sincerely hoped he could force his body to wake up soon. 

 

As soon as he thought that, he could feel an immense pressure descend, and he froze.  _What is..._  


He heard Kaito speaking uncertainly above him. _"Rio?"_  


**_"Beware."_ **

__

If Shun was in control of his body, he would have flinched back at the power of that voice. Deep down, he knew the voice was addressing him. Dimly, he thought the voice belonged to a young girl--maybe slightly older than Ruri. 

_**"The 4 worlds are dying. The wielder of the four dragons will destroy them all."** _

 

Shun knew the girl was talking about his world.  _4 worlds...the Standard, XYZ, Synchro, and Fusion Dimensions...Zarc will destroy it all...with the dragons that once belonged to my comrades..._  


 

He could hear one of the boys ask about the 4 worlds. And then he did recoil as he heard the voice again, speaking directly to him. 

 

_**"Rebellious falcon, lead the two tamers to your home. I know you will wake soon. The power of 3 will be able to hold off the destruction of integration until the true defender wakes. But you must hurry. One will not last much longer."** _

__

At this point, Shun was quite confused. Tamers? Power of 3? True defender? 

 

He could hear Kaito and Mizael asking the same question, and the ghostly voice asking about Shun's home. He wanted to laugh bitterly. 

 

_I have no idea where the hell I am or how to get back._

**_"The pendulum has swung to one side; now it must swing to the other. It will guide you."_ **

__

The voice went silent and Shun heard the voice of an exhausted girl ask what happened. 

 

  
_"You just made another prophecy."_ This was the voice of the boy who had marked him as a soldier of war. 

 

_"What was it about?"_

  
_"Something that can't be answered until Kurosaki Shun wakes up."_ This was Kaito's voice again. 

 

Shun laughed silently.  _Oh, I'll wake up all right. But I won't have a lot of answers to give you. Damn it, why did I have to get left out of the important details of the whole Zarc disaster? And how do they know my name?_  


 

The ghostly voice spoke again.  _"What confuses me is the warning of the destruction of 4 worlds._ _The human world is safe right now. The Astral and Barian worlds have been fine after they fused into one world. Does this mean Kurosaki Shun's world has 2 dimensions?"_  


_No, it has 4._

  
_"We'll know the answers soon. For now, get out of my house; it feels way too crowded in here."_  

 

  
_There's Kaito for you,_ Shun thought.  _Never really liked being in crowds unless they were kids. So how many people are in this place anyways?_  


He heard the girl huff in annoyance. _"There are nicer ways to get people out of your home, you know."_  


_"I'm simply giving you more time to stay in the mall so you can torture your brother instead of me."_

_"We need to get going anyways. Come on, Iris, Durbe, Mizael."_

_"Hai, ou-sama!"_

 

At this point, Shun had no silent retorts or comments to the conversation above him. It was just too weird.

  
_"I'm staying behind. I'm in no mood to deal with Vector."_ That was Mizael.

_"Good, because you're going to keep watch over Kurosaki Shun for me."_

_"Huh?! Why do I have to do that?"_

Shun silently agreed. 

_"Because I'm going to be busy running analyses on this pendant, and Haruto's coming with me. Besides, if Rio's prophecy is right. Kurosaki's going to wake up soon, and we'll need someone to keep watch to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."_

_Why would I do anything stupid...well, there was that time in Standard and Yuto had to punch me..._

_"Thank you, Mizael. The rest of you, out. I'll update you guys later."_

_"Hai, hai."_

  
_Better wake up soon,_ was Shun's only thought as exhaustion overtook him. 

 

 

 

Rays of bright sunlight filtered into the room, dancing upon closed eyelids. In response, the owner's piercing gold eyes slowly blinked open before he groaned softly and brought up a hand to shield his eyes. Kurosaki Shun was awake. _Where am I?_ He wondered. 

 

Judging from the neat, clean beds and the faint smell of antiseptic, he was in an infirmary. He looked around slowly, and the view outside the large window caught his attention. He gaped. 

 

A bright, beautiful,  _whole_ Heartland spanned the landscape. He could see children laughing and running. Adults strolled down the colourful streets. Shops were open and displayed wares ranging from candy to Duel Monsters booster packs. He could see the distinctive heart logo marked out. But somewhere deep in his gut, something twisted. This was  _wrong._ This wasn't the Heartland he knew. Where were the distinctive 4 dueling schools? After years of hunting down Academia soldiers, he had memorized Heartland's layout. The 4 respective dueling schools were in 4 separate districts; their symbols carved onto the roofs so anyone flying in the skies would know which school was where. Spade and Clover were in adjoining districts, while Heart and Diamond were only a few districts away. A cold fist closed around his heart.  _This isn't Heartland. Not the one I know and lived in for the past 18 years of my life._  


He heard a voice behind him. "About time you woke up."

 

He whipped his head around to a piercing blue gaze. 

 

A teenager looking slightly younger than him sat beside his bed, gazing down at him with fierce blue eyes. The teen had long blond hair (making it difficult to figure out the gender, but Shun quickly noticed he was male) and matching red tattoos on either side of his face. There was a wing-like extension of his hair on the left side of his head, and a long golden earring dangled off his left ear. He wore a white school uniform with blue pants. 

 

The two stared at each in silence until the blond shrugged and leaned back. "Ryoga and Kaito were definitely right. Well, welcome to the world of the living, Kurosaki Shun. My name is Mizael." 

 

  
_So that's Mizael._ But Shun had more pressing things to think about at the moment. "Where am I? How do you know my name? And where the hell are my clothes?"

 

"You're in Heartland Tower, also known as the permanent residence of the Tenjo family, your name was on your Duel Disk, and your clothing is right over there." Mizael rattled off the answers in smooth succession. "Oi, slow down!" He said as Shun sat up too quickly and winced. "I don't know how long it takes for ribs to heal, but it obviously isn't a short amount of time."

 

"Huh?" Shun looked down. Sure enough, bandages were wrapped around his midsection. His right wrist was also wrapped up. "What happened to me?" He grabbed his shirt and quickly slipped it on.

 

Mizael shrugged. "You don't remember anything?"

 

"I remember dueling..." Shun put on his trenchcoat, noting that it had been freshly washed and cleaned. "I was slammed into a brick wall...I saw Kaito die...and then there was darkness."

 

"I see." Mizael didn't say anything else. 

 

Shun finished winding his red scarf around his neck and looked at Mizael again. "Tell me one more time: where am I?"

 

"Heartland. Where else?"

 

"No way...it's supposed to be destroyed....and I know was in Academia..." 

 

Mizael sighed. "I'm not a genie; don't ask me for answers." He pulled out a small device and clicked something. "Oi, Kaito, get down here."

 

_"Mizael, I'm busy. This better be important."_

"Kurosaki's awake."

 

There was silence on the other side, and then Kaito spoke. _"One minute."_  


Mizael shut off the call and glanced at Shun. "You look like you've seen a ghost. And I'm not one."

 

"Kaito's...alive?"

 

The corners of the Dragon Tamer's mouth turned up slightly. "There's a lot to tell you, Kurosaki Shun. But I'll stop playing around. You should have realized it by now."

 

Shun kept his voice level. "Answer me this: do you know what Academia is?"

 

Mizael shrugged. "Nope."

 

"I've heard the conversations you've had in this room," Shun said. "The different Heartland, something about an Astral World and a Barian World...Kaito's alive...and no knowledge of Academia...I'm no longer in my world, am I?"

 

"Correct." 

 

Shun turned his head and saw Kaito at the door. No one could blame him for gaping at what seemed to be the ghost of his rival. 

 

Well....he did look exactly like the Cipher duelist. The outfit was an almost perfect match. He looked slightly older, though, and his eyes were more blue than grey. Instead of the red Resistance scarf wrapped around his right hand, a black fingerless glove was in place. He held Shun's Duel Disk in one hand and Yuya's pendant in the other. A rover-like robot rolled along beside him. He calmly strode forward and placed the 2 items on the small table beside Shun's bed. "These are yours, I believe."

 

"...Thanks," Shun said, slipping his Duel Disk on his arm. He made no move to take the pendant. 

 

Kaito's eyes narrowed slightly. "Not going to take the pendant back?"

 

"It's not mine," Shun said. 

 

"Then who does it belong to?"

 

"A corrupted comrade who I failed to bring back." Shun hesitantly reached forward and slid it into his pocket. He swung his legs onto the ground, finding his shoes and putting them on.

 

"Can you get around by yourself?" Kaito asked. 

 

"I'm fine," Shun said shortly as he stood up, ignoring the jabs of pain that flared up. "I've experienced worse."

 

"You're acting quite calm about the whole 'I'm in another world' situation," Mizael noted as he stood as well. 

 

Shun shrugged. "I'm pretty much useless back in my world as I am...and I suppose I have to work with you guys if there's any chance of getting back home."

 

Mizael sighed. "Looks like we'll be having a _long_ conversation."

 

"Hopefully the questions asked can be answered. Your name _is_ Tenjo Kaito, right?" He asked, glancing at Kaito.

 

"Yes."

 

"So I'm not in the afterlife, and I'm not being haunted by the ghost of my rival who I saw die in front of my eyes," Shun muttered. "Great. Just _great._  And what's that robot next to you?"

 

"He's Orbital 7," Kaito said casually. "Don't mind him; he's harmless."

 

"You wound me, Kaito-sama!"

 

Shun recoiled. "A talking robot?!"

 

"I am not just some talking robot! I am Kaito-sama's most loyal servant and I am  _not_ harmless--"

 

"Orbital," Kaito said sharply. "That's enough."

 

"Eep! A-affirmative, Kaito-sama!"

 

Kaito turned away and walked to the door. "Follow me."

 

Shun silently followed him.

 


	5. Conversations Pt 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shun knows more in this story about Zarc and Ray do than in canon. Just saying, since he was pretty much ignored until after Zarc had revived.

 

Shun actually wasn't calm as Mizael thought he was. Inside, he was experiencing a myriad of emotions. Rage at whatever had sent him to this unfamiliar world that just had to look like the home he had lost, and had to make someone who looked like his dead comrade help him out. Confusion at why this world looked so much like his world, and how he had ended up here. He was still grieving over Kaito and Ruri (deep down, he knew his sister was lost. He was her brother, after all). And deep down, a tiny knot of hatred still boiled against Academia. _If they never_ _invaded, we wouldn't be in half of these messes._

 

Kaito led him into a large living room and gestured for him to sit down. "Is there anything you want to eat or drink?" He asked. "You look like you haven't eaten in ages, no offense intended."

 

"Just water," Shun said. Kaito nodded and sent Orbital off. 

 

Mizael sat down on another couch. "You're not going to tell Ryoga or Yuma about this, Kaito?"

 

"Yuma would spill everything the moment I tell him, and you can pass the information on to Ryoga."

 

Mizael scowled. "Fine."

 

Orbital returned with pitchers of water and cups, grumbling about being demoted to a mere servant. Kaito silenced the robot with a look and ordered him to stay out of sight, which the robot hastily agreed to. 

 

When Orbital had scurried off, Kaito turned to Shun. "Tell us your story, and we'll tell ours."

 

"We'll probably ask questions in between," Mizael added. 

 

"Fine." Shun decided to start from the beginning. "My world is divided into 4 dimensions: Standard, XYZ, Fusion, and Synchro. From the names, you can tell they're divided simply by summoning method. I lived in the XYZ dimension with my younger sister Ruri. And yes, it was also called Heartland. For years, we lived peacefully and without knowledge of the other 3 dimensions. I attended the Spade dueling school with Ruri and my best friend Yuto. One of my greatest rivals from another dueling school, Clover, shares Kaito's appearance and name. And nearly 4 years ago, we were attacked by the Fusion Dimension."

 

"Academia?" Mizael asked.

 

Shun nodded. He continued to talk about the brutality of the soldiers and about carding (cueing looks of disgust and anger from the other two boys), following with Ruri's kidnapping and travelling to the Standard Dimension to track her down. He talked about his and Yuto's attacks on LDS, following with meeting someone who shared Ruri's face and Yuto's disappearance. He glossed over the details about the Maiami Duel Championships, briefly mentioning Yuya, who apparently had Yuto's dragon after the Phantom Knights duelist had disappeared. He then talked about Akaba Reiji, who knew about Academia's invasion and formed the Lancers to counter Akaba Leo's plan to unite the dimensions. He talked about what happened in the Synchro Dimension (pausing briefly to explain Synchro Summoning to the curious Mizael), and later what happened as they were sent to the ruined XYZ Dimension. Mizael stopped him briefly just after Shun finished talking about his duel with Kaito.

 

 

"Tell me more about the Tenjo Kaito of your world."

 

" _Mizael_." Kaito's voice had a note of warning in it, but the blond ignored it.

 

"What do you want to know?" Shun asked.

 

"Anything. His past, personality, deck, I don't really care."

 

"I'm not the best person to ask, but I'll say what I can." After thinking a bit, Shun spoke. "Before the war, he was one of the best young duelists in Heartland. Everyone could tell he had massive potential, and people were expecting him to be the Heartland City Duel Champion when he grew up. He was extremely skilled at making counter strategies for multiple playing styles after seeing them in action. He was also probably one of the kindest people I've ever met. He always had a smile on his face and he loved to entertain young kids with his dueling. Whenever we dueled, we always drew huge crowds of children. Yuto, Ruri and I sometimes watched him duel against others when we weren't busy dueling each other. His Cipher deck with Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon was considered one of the best decks at that time. He also had a younger brother...Haruto, I think. I don't know anything about his parents."

 

 

"So you're saying Haruto also existed in your world?" Kaito asked.

 

"Yeah. I only saw him a few times, but he was extremely attached to his older brother."

 

Mizael coughed and hid a smirk behind one hand. "Go on."

 

"His personality underwent a major shift after Academia attacked. I don't blame him for it. When the invasion started, he never smiled unless Haruto was around. There was a deep sense of hatred towards Academia. He was the one who found out how the carding technology worked, and shared it with all of us. He carded so many Academian soldiers that he had a bounty put on his head."

 

"Sounds like what he'd do," Mizael said. 

 

" _Mizael_."

 

"His hatred only grew deeper after Yuto and I left for the Standard Dimension, apparently," continued Shun. "According to our friends Allen and Sayaka, Academia launched a full-out attack just after Yuto and I left. Nearly all of the Resistance was wiped out...and Kaito's entire family was carded. I don't think he ever found Haruto's card. Because of that, he developed a personal vendetta against Academia and grew more reckless. He left the Resistance to act as a one-man army against them."

 

 

Mizael and Kaito said nothing, but Shun could see the shock in their eyes. 

 

"He was pretty much blinded by hate by the time I got back to the XYZ Dimension with Yuya and the Lancers, and he was ruthlessly carding people left and right," Shun said. "I nearly got carded by him after our duel, but I'm guessing Sayaka and Yuya knocked some sense into him later, since he saved us from an Academia ambush later."

 

"What happened after?" Mizael asked. 

 

"I don't remember," Shun said with some remorse. "I was injured saving Sayaka from some falling rubble during the duel and was knocked out. When I woke up later, the Lancers had disappeared into the Fusion Dimension. With Edo Phoenix, I went to Academia."

 

"Who's that?"

 

"Academia's commander for the invasion of the XYZ dimension. He defected from them after Yuya dueled him, and managed to convince the rest of the Academia soldiers to help rebuild."

 

Mizael gave him an incredulous look. "You're joking."

 

"I'm not. I was surprised myself. But I suppose Yuya had that gift to turn hearts and minds with his Entertainment Dueling ideal. I still don't believe it. But anyways, we travelled there, and the first thing I had to do was save Kaito from falling to his death."

 

Both boys gave him disbelieving looks.

 

Shun sighed and proceeded to give a quick summary on what he knew of the Doktor and the parasites the insane scientist had implanted in his sister, before continuing with his Duel with Ruri. He finally ended with being knocked out with Serena with a stun gun, and fell silent, avoiding the gazes from both boys. 

 

"That's it?" Mizael asked.  

 

"That's all I remember that can be explained with my knowledge," Shun replied. "I can tell you more about who Zarc is, but I don't know the full details about everything."

 

"I know that the Tenjo Kaito in your world died," Kaito said, noticing Shun jerk slightly. "You also murmured Zarc's name while you were unconscious. What happened?"

 

"Simply put, Zarc is the result of Yuya, Yuto, and two other boys, Yugo and Yuri, fused together with their dragons. According to what Kaito told me, Zarc was the demon that lay waste to the united world, and was split by Akaba Leo's daughter Ray, which in turn caused the world to split into the 4 dimensions. Both of them reincarnated into 4 alter egos in the 4 worlds. However, Akaba Leo wanted to revive Ray by fusing the 4 worlds back together, using her 4 incarnations and the energy gathered from the carded people as the catalysts. But Zarc revived first since the boys apparently fuse with each other after they duel, as evidenced with Yuya and Yuto."

 

"So the pendant you have on you...it belonged to one of them?" Kaito asked. 

 

"It was Yuya's," Shun said simply. "Had it on him the entire time we spent as the Lancers. Apparently it fell off when he turned into Zarc, so Sora decided to see if it could bring him back when he challenged Zarc to a duel with Edo Phoenix after the former began to lay waste to the still-fusing dimensions. They were defeated, and Kaito and I were next. But you should be able to figure out the rest."

 

"Kaito died as a result of losing the duel and you were transported here," Mizael concluded.

 

"Yeah. The force from the last attack sent us flying through the air. I hit a roof while Kaito...hit a lamppost and broke his neck."

 

"What happened to Sora and Edo?"

 

"They were injured, but alive."

 

"That's strange, then," Kaito noted. "Most duelists, no matter how fallen, stick to the same  _modus operandi_ with their opponents."

 

"As evidenced by Vector or Don Thousand," Mizael muttered. 

 

"Enough about my world; you told me you'd tell me what happened in this world."

 

Mizael and Kaito exchanged glances, both willing the other to talk. 

 

  
_You know more about the goings-on with the Numbers and this modern world before the Barians stepped in,_ Mizael's gaze conveyed. 

 

_Fine, but you're helping with explanations._

Kaito looked away from Mizael and faced Shun. "I'll go into some detail about our world first. Here, we duel with AR Vision--augmented reality. In order to see the holograms of the monsters, we use D-Gazers that link with our D-Pads, or what you would call Duel Disks. Some people don't need D-Gazers. Instead, they have a specialized tattoo that surrounds their eye when they duel, allowing them to see the monsters. The D-Gazers also allow us to communicate with others."

 

"Like when Mizael contacted you earlier?"

 

"Yeah," Mizael replied, showing his gold and blue D-Gazer to Shun. "However, I don't need it for dueling. I just use it for communication."

 

Shun nodded. "What are the Astral and Barian worlds?"

 

"I'll get into more detail about that later. For now, I'll give you a quick breakdown on what happened to us a few years ago." After silently debating to himself on where to start, Kaito took a breath and started speaking. "When I was young, Haruto was diagnosed with an incurable condition, and wasn't predicted to live for more than a few years. My father was desperate not to lose another family member after losing my mother a few months before that, and turned to what he called supernatural forces to cure Haruto. With his knowledge of interdimensional physics, he eventually found a portal into a different world composed almost entirely of energy: the Barian World. He survived the trip into the Barian World and came out with a cure for Haruto. But in reality, the cure wasn't a cure--both Haruto and Father ended up being possessed by a Barian, whose name was Vector."

 

"Judging from Mizael's grimace, I'm guessing you know him. And what exactly is a Barian?"

 

Kaito gave Mizael a glance. Mizael scowled but spoke. "The Barian and Astral Worlds are similar to what you think of as hell and heaven. In this world, souls have the capability to Rank-Up and be reincarnated into a higher plane of existence. The Astral World is for those who've lived purely all their lives and were usually heroic or did something that proved their noble way of life. The Barian World was usually where the most infamous criminals and evildoers ended up."

 

"So you were originally evil in your previous life?" 

 

"That would have made explanations easier," Mizael muttered. "I wasn't evil at all. Apparently I was supposed to reincarnate into the Astral World. But thanks to a certain someone, I ended up being reincarnated into the Barian World."

 

"Who?" 

 

"Don Thousand," Mizael spat. "The god of the Barian World and the one who created us Seven Barian Emperors."

 

"Just like Mizael was saying, not all Barians were evil," Kaito cut in. "Anyways, let me get back to the chronological order of events. After Vector possessed my brother, he was able to live, but his personality underwent a major shift. Believing that my father's efforts only made Haruto worse, I wanted to find another cure. Under Vector's influence, my father ordered me to find a series of 100 cards, also known as the Numbers cards. They're XYZ cards with...a special power that allows them to manipulate humans. My father told me to get all the Numbers so I could cure Haruto, so I became a Numbers Hunter to track down and collect all the Numbers."

 

"Do they still exist?" 

 

"Only a specific number or them and they are only wielded by us," Kaito replied. "I don't really use them, but Mizael has two."

 

"I'm only going to show you one since the other one will confuse you," Mizael announced as he slid a card out of his deck. "Number 46: Dragulong." 

 

Shun leaned forward and intently studied the card. "Its effect is tricky to get through," he admitted. "Especially if you run a dragon-centered deck, which I'm guessing both of you do."

 

Mizael smirked as he slid the card back into his pocket. "Of course."

 

"So what happened after?" Shun asked. 

 

Kaito continued with a brief summary of his jobs as a Numbers Hunter (causing Shun to grimace at the soul stealing part), meeting Yuma and Astral (which led into a long side explanation about the Astral World and the overly cheerful duelist), the World Duel Championships, and finally, the battle between the possessed Dr. Faker and him, Yuma, and Ryoga. Shun took it all in with a detached air of calm, but Kaito knew Shun was trying to absorb everything he had explained, and stopped after he finished describing the duel.

 

"I'd normally think you guys are crazy," Shun said after a long silence. "But considering what happened in my own world, I'm in no position to judge. Can you tell me more about the Barian Emperors and Don Thousand?"

 

Mizael scowled at the name but nodded. "According to Astral, Don Thousand was a being of the Astral World once, but fell to the Barian World after deciding to host the power of chaos, which the Astral World had cast out. He and Don Thousand fought, and Don Thousand lost. Astral sealed him deep into the Barian World, but he still had enough power to influence the human world. The Seven Barian Emperors were born as a result of his powers. Since you heard our conversations, you know I was one of them. None of us were evil. Vector's just an exception, though. The 5 of us had lived mostly peaceful and what humans considered heroic lives, and our legends were recorded by other humans. However, seeing that our souls would reincarnate into the Astral World, Don Thousand decided to use us to fuel his rebirth, and manipulated our memories to make us hate humanity more than we already did with his Over-Hundred Numbers, causing us to reincarnate into the Barian World. None of us were aware of this until we made contact with the human world again and battled with Kaito and Yuma."

 

"Over-Hundred Numbers?"

 

"This," Mizael said as he pulled out his Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon. "is one of them. Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon."

 

Shun's eyes widened. "Galaxy-Eyes...Tachyon Dragon?"

 

"What's with that expression?" Mizael asked.

 

"Nothing...just surprised that you guys also have dragons with Galaxy-Eyes in their names."

 

"I see."

 

"So? What happened after that?"

 

Mizael gestured for Kaito to take over. The Photon duelist sighed but gave Shun a quick breakdown on the search for the 7 Mythyrian Numbers which apparently were linked to a Barian Emperor's true memories. He talked about the invasion of the Barian World, and their efforts to stop the Barians. Kaito concluded with his death and didn't say another word.

 

"So...you're saying you died on the moon." 

 

"What about it?"

 

"Nothing, just sounds like one of the stranger ways to die as a duelist."

 

"Dying on the moon isn't as bad as dying in a dimensional rift and having your soul sucked into a crystal."

 

"What happened to _you_?"

 

"Dueled Don Thousand in an attempt for revenge, ended up losing, so my soul got absorbed into his."

 

"How were you guys brought back?"

 

"The Numeron Code. I know nothing else. The Seven Barian Emperors were brought back as humans, and a lot of other dead duelists were apparently brought back as well. The rest of the story, you're going to have to get it out of Astral and Ryoga. Any other questions?"

 

"What are the other former Barian Emperors like? 

 

"Hmm...Ryoga and Rio were our leaders, also known as Nasch and Merag. Ryoga's alright, but he's highly overprotective when it comes to Rio, but Rio can take care of herself. Durbe's my best friend and he's actually quite a nerd ever since we were brought back, but he's nice in human terms. Alit and Gilag are plain idiots and simple-minded, but they're strong in terms of physical strength. And Vector..." Mizael groaned. "He's the most diabolical, villainous, and mischievous person you'll ever meet. He was nicknamed the Mad Prince in his first life and he's annoying as hell. I still haven't forgiven him for hosting Don Thousand in the first place. But I have to admit he's gotten slightly better ever since he was brought back...but he's still annoying."

 

"What happened between you guys?"

 

"He was a jerk in the Barian World and now," Mizael growled. "He got into a fight with Alit and Gilag a few days ago and trashed the place we were living in, so I'm currently a temporary resident in Kaito's home."

 

"How many times have I told you that you're free to permanently move in? I didn't give you the keys just so you could slip in at 4 AM."

 

Mizael rolled his eyes and hmphed, a scowl on his face, but he didn't say anything. 

 

Kaito shook his head and turned to Shun. "Have we cleared up everything?"

 

"I heard the prophecy," Shun said. 

 

Kaito drew in a sharp breath. "That's a conversation for when we have everyone together. For now, let's take a break outside. If you won't have any traumatizing flashbacks of your Heartland, then I'll take you on a quick tour of this place. There's also the matter of Sakaki Yuya's pendant..."

 

"Let's talk about that later," Shun replied as he slid his hand into his pocket and gave the pendant to Kaito. "I don't want to hold on to it any more than necessary."

 

"Alright," Kaito answered as he pocketed the pendant. "Come on; let's go. Mizael, are you coming?"

 

"I'll go back to the Kamishiro mansion," Mizael said with a mild look of annoyance on his face. "Ryoga should know this."

 

"Do whatever you want," Kaito said. "Let's go." 


	6. Conversations Pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm way overdue for an update. Sorry. I kinda gave up on this chapter for 1 week because I had no idea how to connect it with later scenes in the story. Hope you enjoy, and everything that may seem off is my personal headcanoning. 
> 
> IMPORTANT: Some chapters have undergone edits, but they will not impact later events. 
> 
> Also, I like to think that Kaito can manifest his tattoo without using Photon mode. Wouldn't want to give Shun any heart attacks. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Once they walked into the city, it was all Shun could do to not gape openly. The brightly coloured shops and streets looked almost exactly like his home before the invasion. The sun shone down with warm light, warming his face and the rest of his body. He saw children dueling with D-Gazers on, and true to Kaito's words, he couldn't see the monsters. Everywhere he looked, people had D-Gazers on. 

 

"Here," Kaito's voice said next to him. 

 

Shun turned and his eyes widened. "Your eye!" A blue marking surrounded Kaito's left eye, which had turned red. 

 

"That's my tattoo. As such, I don't require a D-Gazer."

 

"..."

 

The corners of Kaito's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly before he handed a D-Gazer to Shun. "Put it on and tell me what you see."

 

Shun took the white D-Gazer from Kaito and fitted it over his left eye. This time, he did gape. After a few minutes, he took it off and blinked as the holograms disappeared from sight. "This is...amazing."

 

"You can keep the D-Gazer for the time being," Kaito said. "You'll need it here. Getting you a tattoo is out of the question because we both know you can't stay long."

 

"You had an ulterior motive for getting me out here, didn't you?" Shun asked as he put the D-Gazer in his pocket. "There's more you wanted to discuss without Mizael in the conversation."

 

Kaito smiled slightly as his tattoo disappeared. "I wouldn't have cared either way if he decided to tag along or not. But you are right. There is more I wish to discuss with you."

 

"So? Why did you drag me out here?"

 

"There is something I wanted to talk about privately," Kaito said as he led Shun down a street where shop owners were selling booster packs. "About the prophecy that Rio spoke of."

 

"What about it?"

 

"From what you told us, I've figured out a few parts. The 4 worlds--that's your world that was separated into the 4 dimensions: Standard, XYZ, Synchro, and Fusion. The wielder of the 4 dragons is Zarc, right? You said his alter egos had dragons."

 

"They did," Shun answered. "Yuya had Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Yuto had Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon, Yugo had Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, and Yuri had Starve Venom Fusion Dragon."

 

"One for each summoning method," Kaito mused thoughtfully. "Why did Rio call you rebellious falcon?"

 

"She must have been referring to my deck," Shun said. "And I am part of the rebellion in the XYZ dimension who fought against Academia, so I technically am a rebel. What about the two tamers?"

 

"That refers to the two dragon tamers, or Mizael and I. We are the tamers of the Galaxy-Eyes dragons."

 

"You have Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, and Mizael has Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon, right?"

 

"Yes. And the night you arrived here...I dreamt about Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon."

 

This caused a visible jerk from Shun, who gave Kaito a full-on glare. "You're lying."

 

"I don't lie unless I absolutely have to, and now is not the time. I had visions about your Heartland before and after the invasion, and then I met Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon. He said with your abilities, combined with Photon's and Tachyon's power, he would be able to keep Zarc from destroying the world before a true defender wakes."

 

"So you're saying the Galaxy-Eyes dragons are just a defensive wall before someone else destroys Zarc? That's kind of anticlimatic."

 

"We're in no situation to question whatever wanted this done," Kaito said. "What abilities do you have?"

 

Shun looked away before responding. "I'm a psychic duelist. And I'm not proud of it."

 

Kaito motioned for Shun to continue. 

 

Shun sighed. "I don't get why I should be telling you this anyways. I barely know or trust you. I don't know when my power developed. Maybe it was always there and was triggered through my anger when Academia attacked. Even without the use of Real Solid Vision, I can materialize my monsters with mass outside of duels and deal real damage to the surrounding area. I abused this power. And I hate it."

 

"Why?"

 

"I'm not telling you _that_ ," Shun replied shortly. 

 

"Fair enough. Then, onto the last few lines. Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon won't last much longer with the other Kaito dead. And the pendulum..."

 

"Yuya's pendant was swinging back and forth like a pendulum and glowing before I woke up here," Shun said. "Now I remember...I had just confirmed Kaito's death when it started to glow...then I felt like I was falling...and I ended up here. When Yuya conducted his Pendulum Summoning, a pendulum that looked like his pendant would also swing whenever he set the scales."

 

"When it swings to one side, a pendulum will always swing to the other side...it's not irrational to think that Sakaki Yuya's pendant may aid us in getting you back to your world. If it brought you here, it should take you back."

 

"You're the one who ran tests on it," Shun pointed out. "What did you find?"

 

"The crystal isn't made of anything that can be found in this world and Mizael said it wasn't a Barian crystal, so it's either made of astralite from the Astral World or something that can only be found in your world. And for an inexplicable reason, we sensed traces of energy emanating from it. The energy signature is unrecognizable to any of us."

 

"Huh, I wonder if Yuya knew all that. He never said much about his pendant."

 

"Anyways, your Duel Disk also had some interesting functions."

 

"Did you look through my deck?!"

 

"Of course not. I saw your Rise Falcon when I was trying to find the Extra Deck slot, but that was all I saw. I do have my pride as a duelist to uphold."

 

Shun let out a breath. "What did you find?"

 

"A built in Field Spell designed to activate once a duel starts, but we were unable to activate it. There was a function that was disabled, but I decided to not touch it."

 

"I'm no tech expert, but I think it was the carding function that was disabled," Shun said. "Akaba Reiji took my Duel Disk for a while when I was in the Standard Dimension. That guy...if he didn't deactivate it, I could have had my revenge on the bastard that kidnapped Ruri and started the invasion."

 

"Is this the time to be thinking about that?" Kaito asked. "You should be thinking about getting home. Your Duel Disk has the capability to traverse dimensions, doesn't it?"

 

"Yeah, it does. I need specific coordinates for a certain dimension, though. When Yuto and I left for the Standard Dimension, we got the coordinates off the Duel Disk from a fallen Obelisk Force soldier. And for the Synchro Dimension, Akaba Reiji had inputted the coordinates into my Duel Disk. Although...if the dimensions are fusing together right now, I think I would be able to get anywhere no matter the coordinates. The worlds are already in the same place."

 

"Interdimensional physics isn't as simple as you think it is," Kaito said. "However, if I can modify our current technology based off the schematics from your Duel Disk and use Sakaki Yuya's pendant and our dragons as catalysts, we should be able to travel to your world."

 

"You guys already have dimension-travelling technology?"

 

"It worked once and almost failed," Kaito replied. "Chris and I built it in order to get Yuma to the Astral World, and we weren't even sure if it would get him to the right place. After Yuma returned, we gave up on using it. The Barian Emperors were able to travel through different worlds with their own power, but with their reincarnation as humans, their powers have greatly weakened."

 

"So it's hit-or-miss," Shun summarized. "That's hardly reassuring. Isn't there any way to get back safely, quickly and without any complications? I don't even know what's going on in my world right now. Zarc might have destroyed my world already for all we know,"

 

"I have reason to believe that Zarc is still dueling your comrades."

 

"What?"

 

"Cipher mentioned a name when he was speaking with Photon. Does 'Scarlight' sound familiar?"

 

"Red Demon's Dragon Scarlight...Jack Atlas's ace dragon. He was the champion duelist in the Synchro Dimension before Yuya defeated him in a duel. So he's dueling with Zarc?"

 

"Cipher said Scarlight would be defeated soon...and my dream was 2 days ago. If we assume that Jack Atlas started dueling Zarc right after you and Kaito were defeated, he's still dueling now or he was just defeated. With that in mind, time in your world must be flowing quite slowly compared to this world. Days might pass here, but only minutes would pass in your world."

 

"I'll believe it when I see it," Shun said flatly. "There aren't a lot of Lancers left, and Akaba Reiji was nowhere to be found when I arrived in the Fusion Dimension. There's only so many people left that can challenge Zarc right now."

 

"Well, we can make preparations now. Let's go back." 

 

Just then, a chirp sounded and Shun took out his D-Gazer, mystified. Kaito snatched it and answered the call. "Mizael?"

 

_"Ryoga wants you and Kurosaki over at the mansion. Yuma's also there."_

"Fine."

Kaito shut down the call and handed the D-Gazer back to Shun. "Change of plans; you're going to meet some very interesting people."

 

"Who?" Shun asked warily. 

 

"The Seven Barian Emperors. Follow me." Kaito turned away and strode off in a direction opposite from Heartland Tower. 

 

Shun quietly trailed after him. 

 

* * *

 

Kaito stopped in front of a large mansion, which looked like it had seen better days. Some windows were boarded up, while some still had glass fragments clinging onto the frame. The Photon duelist whistled. "They did quite a number on the house this time."

 

"What happened?" Shun asked. 

 

"Vector pranked Alit and Gilag, which caused a major fight since the latter two lose their tempers quite easily. As they fought, Vector hid in Rio's room and it ended up getting demolished, so Rio started fighting with all 3 of them, which caused chaos inside and outside the house."

 

"Is it safe to go inside then?"

 

"It should be." Looking at Shun's wary-yet-curious expression, Kaito smirked. "You won't be killed in this place. Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the Emperors, Yuma, and Astral."

 

Kaito walked straight to the front doors and finding them unlocked, he pushed them open. "I'd say excuse the intrusion, but--"

 

A blur of red and black jumped out of the door, causing both boys to recoil before chaos ensued.

 

* * *

 

In all retrospect, Yuma probably shouldn't have tried to surprise Kaito and Shun when they arrived by jumping out the door before anyone could stop him. That, of course, did not end well. Once Yuma had jumped out (causing Kaito to simply step to one side), Shun reacted in response to the shock. The Raidraptors duelist flipped Yuma over his shoulder and slammed the younger boy onto the ground,   twisting his arm behind him before anyone could react. 

 

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" Yuma yelped in pain. "I give!"

 

A ghostly white figure (vaguely male?) appeared out of nowhere, face creased with concern. _"Yuma!"_  


Shun let go then, once he realized that one, it wasn't an Academia ambush, and two, he was attacking someone much younger than him. 

 

Kaito raised one eyebrow at Shun as he yanked Yuma up to his feet, causing the younger boy to let out another yelp of pain. "You have good reflexes."

 

Shun simply shrugged in response.

 

Yuma rubbed his shoulder. "That hurt!"

 

  
_"In all retrospect, you shouldn't have done that,"_  the floating white figure chastised, the expression on his face now one of neutrality. 

 

Yuma glared at him. "I just wanted to surprise Kaito for once!"

 

Shun glanced at Kaito. "What's that spirit doing there?"

 

"That's Astral," Kaito replied. 

 

Shun nodded in understanding before a boy with grey hair and glasses poked his head out from behind the door. "If the fiasco is over, Ryoga wants you inside to talk, Kaito." He noticed Shun and gave the taller boy a nod before disappearing back into the house. 

 

Before Shun could ask anything, Kaito cut in. "That's Durbe."

 

"And I'm Yuma!" The smaller boy grinned at Shun. "You have some awesome martial arts skills! I know we kinda started off on the wrong foot, but I hope we'll get along!"

 

Shun gave Yuma a scrutinizing look. "How old are you? 10?"

 

Yuma fell on the ground in shock."I'm turning 14 in two weeks!"

 

  
_"Is he able to see me?"_ The spirit asked Kaito. 

 

"Yes, I can," Shun said. "You're Astral?"

 

The spirit inclined his head. _"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Kurosaki Shun."_  


Shun nodded back as he entered the large mansion. The hallway appeared to be recently renovated, the scent of paint still lingering in the air. He followed the single wide hallway into a large living room, where 7 teens sat, talking. He recognized Mizael and Durbe, but knew no one else. There was a boy with purple hair curling up at the ends and a girl who resembled him with long blue hair sitting next to him. Shun assumed they were the brother-sister pair Mizael had told him about, Ryoga and Rio. Farther away from them sat a boy with spiky bright orange hair (Shun was vaguely reminded of Crow) and mischievous purple eyes, with a grin that clearly spelled danger on his face. That was clearly Vector. On the opposite side, a boy with black hair and a giant with a mohawk-like hairstyle sat.  _What were their names again...Gilag and Alit? Which one's which?_  


Upon his entering the room, Ryoga and Rio stopped talking and gave him curious looks, while Vector gave him a mischievous smile. Shun shuffled a bit, uncomfortable with all the attention directed at him. He was saved by Kaito striding into the room and breaking the glances directed at him. "I'm here, Kurosaki Shun is here, now what do you want to talk about, Ryoga?"

 

"Obviously Rio's prophecy and a way to help Kurosaki get back to his world," Ryoga replied. 

 

"Oh, that." Kaito said dismissively. "We've already figured out most of the prophecy and I have a plan to get him back to his world."

 

"And you didn't bother telling us? That's mean," Vector complained, a fake pout on his face. 

 

Kaito rolled his eyes. "I just had a conversation with Kurosaki before we got called over here."

 

"So can you interpret the prophecy for us, Kaito?" Durbe asked. 

 

"Yes." 

 

Shun cut in then. "I'd prefer if you didn't talk about me as if I wasn't here. And I still don't know any of your names."

 

"Oh right, where were our manners?" The girl said, motioning for him to sit down. "I'm Kamishiro Rio and this is my brother Ryoga. The maniac over there is Vector, you know Mizael, Durbe's the one beside him, Gilag's the giant and Alit's beside him."

 

"I'm not a maniac," Vector complained. "I'm an insane prankster."

 

"Same thing," Rio said dismissively. "Unless you want me to describe you as dead." Shun could have sworn her eyes were glowing red as she glared at Vector. Vector huffed and crossed his arms.

 

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Yuma yelled as he bounded into the room. 

 

"Oh right, and that's Yuma."

 

"I already met him," Shun said.

 

"Good, so now we can get to the point. Kaito, since you know everything, you can tell us what you know."

 

"Has Mizael told you about Zarc?"

 

"Yeah," came the unanimous reply. 

 

"Then you guys can obviously deduce that the 4 worlds are Shun's world, split into the 4 dimensions of Standard, XYZ, Synchro, and Fusion. The wielder of the four dragons refer to Zarc, who controls a dragon summoned with each summoning method."

  
_"What about the rebellious falcon?"_ Astral asked. 

 

"That's me," Shun responded. "Falcon refers to my deck, and I am a member of a rebellion back in my world."

 

"My guess is that the two tamers are refer to Kaito and Mizael, am I correct?" Durbe looked expectantly at his blond friend. 

 

Mizael nodded in assent. 

 

"And the last two lines...'the power of 3 will be able to hold off the destruction of integration until the true defender wakes. But you must hurry. One will not last much longer.' Did you also figure that out?" Ryoga asked.

 

"In my world, there is someone who shares Kaito's face and name. He also wields a Galaxy-Eyes dragon. Adding that to Mizael's and Kaito's Galaxy-Eyes, that makes 3. Its name is Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon...and it won't live much longer as Tenjo Kaito in my world has been killed."

 

Everyone besides Kaito and Mizael gaped at him, before Kaito cleared his throat. "The power of 3 would refer to the Galaxy-Eyes dragons. 'Destruction of integration' obviously refers to Zarc, but I don't understand why he would be referred to in that way...oh wait, I get it."

 

"What?" Yuma asked.

 

"Integration means to combine or to bring together...and Shun told me that Zarc was a combination of a human and 4 dragons...so he is a living example of integration."

 

  
_"Would Zarc, by any chance, look like a human-dragon hybrid with red and green hair?"_ Astral asked Shun.

 

Shun stared at Astral in shock. "How would you know that?!"

 

Astral gave Yuma a pointed glance. _"Yuma dreamed about Zarc fusing with the 4 dragons the night before you were sent to our world."_  


Shun gave Yuma a harsh glare, causing the younger boy to shrink back. "Tell me your dream and don't leave out a single detail."

 

"O-okay..." stuttered Yuma before he took a deep breath. "First, I found myself floating in a really huge sky. There were a lot of islands just floating around below me. Suddenly, a force dragged me down to an island which had really dull buildings and a harbor, where I saw the Zarc guy facing off against two duelists. One was super short and had blue hair while the other had silver hair and a grey suit...I think."

 

"Shiunin Sora and Edo Phoenix..." Shun muttered before telling Yuma to continue. 

 

"It felt like I was watching it in slow-mo though...but I got the gist of the duel before the Zarc guy pulled some kind of twisted fusion summon with himself and 4 dragons and formed an even bigger black dragon that was larger than any of the islands. I woke up around that time."

 

"So that's how the huge dragon formed," Shun muttered. "Kaito and I arrived in the last moments before Shiunin and Edo lost to the bastard. We got a 2000 LP penalty for interfering in the duel before we started our duel against Zarc and lost."

 

"How powerful is Zarc's deck anyways?" Alit asked. 

 

Shun gave the Emperor's a quick breakdown about Zarc's Pendulum Summoning and his twisted versions of the 4 dragons and what effects he knew about, causing Yuma to squeak in fright and the rest of the Emperors to raise eyebrows at Zarc's highly defensive strategies with the pendulum scale monsters. 

 

"How the heck are we supposed to win against that?" Yuma asked. 

 

Kaito gave Yuma an incredulous look. "This is coming from one of the duelists that defeated Don Thousand?"

 

"Yeah, but..."

 

"If we sealed his Pendulum monster effects, it would work," Shun said. "The Pendulum scales are set in the Magic and Trap zone, so any card or monster effects that seal effects of Magic cards would help."

 

"We can dwell on that later. Tomorrow, I will make arrangements with Chris to restore and upgrade our interdimensional travelling portal so it can transport us to Kurosaki's world. We should finish in one week."

 

"And what do I do for the next few days?" Shun asked. 

 

"What do you want to do?" Kaito asked. "You can explore the city, work with my father and Tron to get more information out of your Duel Disk, or duel. I'm sure some people here would  _lov_ e to duel someone new." He emphasized the word 'love' while giving Yuma a pointed glance, causing the latter to laugh sheepishly. 

 

"Isn't that obvious?" Shun said with a smirk on his face. "I'll duel."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't write duels. Maybe I'll write the beginning and ending of one, but...who knows. Next up, Mizael's meeting Arc-V Kaito. 
> 
> If I do write a duel next chapter, I might write a Yuma vs Shun or Ryoga vs Shun. Who knows.


	7. DUEL!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive...sorry for not updating in a billion years....enjoy?
> 
> I found out that I'm completely incapable of writing duels. So yeah, I tried my best at writing the start of one.

 

Mizael found himself walking in a desolate wasteland. Everything was a drab shade of grey. Rubble was everywhere, once-tall buildings crumbled to nothing. A wind blew through the area, stirring up clouds of dust. The blond Dragon Tamer stopped walking and knelt down as he saw a facedown Duel Monsters card right in front of him, and picked it up, dusting it off before flipping it over. His eyes widened. 

 

The card had no name and no description. It was a blank monster card, but the image said otherwise. 

 

The terrified face of Tenjo Haruto stared at him, mouth open as if crying out for someone. "Haruto..."

 

Mizael heard soft footfalls then, quietly approaching him from behind. "I dream of this place, often. The place where Haruto was carded. Of course, I never actually found his card. He died crying out for me, a failure of an older brother."

 

Mizael didn't turn around. "Is there any way to bring carded people back?"

 

"Not that I know of. I tried baiting Academia one time with the cards of their comrades. They simply laughed and said that once someone was carded, they would never be brought back. Edo Phoenix did tell me that carded people would be brought back once the dimensions are fused, but..."

 

Mizael stood up, back still turned to the speaker. "Spirits of the dead possess enough power to call souls to their worlds. Did you call me here just to grieve over your brother again, Tenjo Kaito, or do you have a message for me?" He turned around and his jaw nearly dropped. The teenager standing before him could easily pass off as Kaito's twin, if Mizael didn't count the differences up close. His eyes were more grey than blue, and a red scarf was wrapped around his right hand. And of course, there were the wounds to consider. Blood stained the front of Kaito's coat a dark shade of red, and Kaito's neck was just slightly bent out of place. "You died from crashing into a light post?"

 

Kaito winced. "Shun told you that? Not the best way to die."

 

"Oh, I know better ways to die," Mizael said. "How about being shot with at least a thousand arrows?"

 

"Back to the point: you're the second Dragon Tamer, right?"

 

"Yes. I'm Mizael."

 

"Let me show you the magnitude of the situation in my world."

 

"Why not Kaito?" 

 

"For whatever inexplicable reason, Cipher was calling out to your dragon...Tachyon, I believe. Besides I have a feeling the Kaito you know wouldn't have reacted to well to seeing Haruto's card, even if that Haruto isn't the brother he knows. I know there's still a drive to protect the family member most precious to you."

 

"You really _are_ the same Tenjo Kaito," Mizael noted. "Fundamentally, at least."

 

"Maybe. Now come with me." Kaito held out the hand that was wrapped in the scarf, and Mizael gripped it, forcing himself to not flinch at the icy coldness of Kaito's hand.

 

The scenery around him shifted until Mizael found himself floating above a large island. A huge black dragon dominated the majority of the view in front of him. Glowing blue platforms were scattered around at different elevations. "Where am I?"

 

"This is the Fusion Dimension."

 

"I'm guessing that's Zarc. Who's dueling him right now?"

 

"Do you see that white D-Wheel?" At Mizael's blank look, Kaito clarified. "The white motorcycle with a huge wheel over it."

 

"Oh, that."

 

"That belongs to Jack Atlas. He is a Synchro duelist and is currently battling Zarc alongside Sakaki Yuya's friend Gongenzaka."

 

"Heh, dueling on motorcycles. Isn't that interesting. When did they start?"

 

"Not long after Shun disappeared. After I died, my spirit was drifting through worlds, and through my connection with Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, I was able to figure out that Shun had ended up in your world. Cipher should have paid one of your dragons a visit a while ago."

 

"Yeah, he met with your counterpart's dragon, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. Kaito and some others are finding a way to your world as we speak."

 

Kaito's expression shifted from one to relief. "That's good. I don't know how much longer the current duelists can hold out against Zarc."

 

"Kurosaki already told us what he knew about Zarc's deck and effects. His tactics seem to be quite defensive."

 

"Combined with effects to counter any monster of any summoning method...I can't say we're doing well against him."

 

"How are you still connected to Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon if you're dead?"

 

"We've been bonded spiritually for a very long time. Even if I'm dead, I can still communicate with him. However, his anchor to the human world is now tied to the XYZ Dimension as I'm dead, which will be erased when the dimensions fuse together, which will result in his death as well." He glanced at the scene in front of him and swore as he saw Jack Atlas get blasted off his D-Wheel. "The situation is getting worse."

 

Mizael watched with detached interest as Jack's D-Wheel careened towards his prone body, and raised an eyebrow as the machine struck something at the last second and was propelled into the air, missing Jack by mere centimetres. "Who's left to challenge Zarc?"

 

"There's one more Lancer who's nothing but talk," Kaito sighed. "The idiot thought only Level 4 monsters could be used for XYZ summoning."

 

"Are you serious?" Mizael gave Kaito an incredulous look. "And you're saying that idiot is still alive?"

 

"I would have carded him, but..."

 

"You got stopped. Well, hopefully there's someone else."

 

"That's for me to find out later. I'd rather you know more, Mizael, but I have to send you back now. It's been nearly a day in your world."

 

"Wasn't it only 15 minutes?!"

 

Kaito's face was grim. "The flow of time between your world and mine are fluctuating rapidly. At this rate, we might be obliterated before you even find your way here. I wish you good luck in getting here before our world ends."

 

Mizael found himself floating farther away from Kaito's spirit, high up into the skies until he couldn't even see Zarc. Then, darkness obscured his vision until he knew no more. 

 

* * *

 

Mizael blinked his eyes open to see Durbe's relieved grey eyes on him. "I'm not dead, so stop looking so relieved," he grumbled.  

 

"You've been sleeping for a whole day and even Vector's air horn couldn't wake you up; of course we'd be concerned. Everyone's waiting downstairs."

 

"Did Kaito leave?"

 

"Yeah, he left this morning. He told us not to worry about you."

 

"See, he's not worried. Did Kurosaki get his Duel Disk to work with our D-Pads yet?"

 

"Yeah. He wanted to wait for you to wake up before dueling anyone, though. Yuma challenged him again a few hours ago."

 

"Right," Mizael mumbled. 

 

Yesterday, Kurosaki and Kaito had came to the Kamishiro mansion to talk with the other Barians. They had discussed the prophecy and Zarc. Kaito had given Shun a few choices on what to do while he travelled out of the country with the oldest Arclight brother (Mizael couldn't for the life of him remember whether to call him Christopher or V), and Kurosaki had obviously chosen to duel. Yuma had challenged him right after Shun finished talking, but Kurosaki's Duel Disk wasn't compatible with the technology in the D-Pads, so the duel had ended up being terminated before it even began. Ryoga had kicked Yuma, Kaito and Kurosaki out of the mansion as it was getting too late, and Kurosaki had agreed to work with Faker and Tron to make his Duel Disk compatible with the D-Pads. 

 

"The duel is being held in the backyard," Durbe said, breaking Mizael out of his thoughts. "Let's go."

 

* * *

 

Kurosaki stood calmly on one side of the backyard, his arms crossed. Yuma faced him a distance away, an excited look on his face. Astral floated beside him, looking quite neutral. 

 

"Two on one?" Kurosaki called over to Yuma. 

 

_"No. I shall stay out of this duel,"_ Astral said. 

 

Yuma gave Astral a surprised look. "You're staying out of this one?"

 

_"Your dueling skills have improved greatly after I dueled you, Yuma. I don't believe you'll need me for the Duel against Kurosaki."_

"Alright then, let's do this!  _Kattobingu daze, ORE!_ " Yuma yelled. 

 

Shun raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

 

"It's his trademark phrase," Ryoga cut in before Yuma could reply. "Don't mind him. You guys will start with 4000 LP. Since Yuma was the challenger, you get to go first, Kurosaki. I don't know how Action Duels work, but I expect that you'll make it clear during dueling, right?"

 

"Yeah." 

 

"Then get started."

 

"Duel Disk, set! D-Gazer, set!"

 

_Field Magic: Crossover._

Glowing blue platforms appeared in the air, and a soft pop of a bubble scattered glowing cards over the fiele. Everyone besides Kurosaki gaped at the scene. 

 

Kurosaki and Yuma drew their opening cards. 

 

"DUEL!"

 

"The first turn is mine!" Kurosaki declared. "I'll summon Raidraptors: Vanishing Lanius." A metallic bird of prey appeared on his field. "Vanishing Lanius' effect: if I successfully Normal Summon it, I can Special Summon another Vanishing Lanius from my hand!" 

 

_**(Raidraptors-Vanishing Lanius: Winged-Beast/Effect ATK: 1300 DEF: 1600 Level: 4 Attribute: DARK)** _

 

"Two Level 4s..." Rio said. "Is he going to do it?"

 

"I'll set 1 card and end my turn."

 

Mizael's eyes narrowed at the blank expression on Kurosaki's face.  _He definitely has something up his sleeve._

 

"Alright! My turn, draw!" Yuma grinned. "I'm not holding back! I'll summon Goblindbergh!" 

 

_**(Goblindbergh: Warrior/Effect ATK: 1400 DEF: 0 Level: 4 Attribute: EARTH)** _

__

"Goblindbergh's Monster Effect: When I summon this monster, I can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower Monster from my hand! I'll summon Ganbara Knight!"

 

_**(Ganbara Knight: Warrior/Effect ATK: 0 DEF: 1800 Level: 4 Attribute: LIGHT)** _

__

_Two Level 4s..._ Shun thought as he observed Yuma. _Is he...?_

"I'll overlay Goblindbergh and Ganbara Knight! With these two monsters, I build the overlay network! XYZ SHOUKAN! Come forth! Number 39: Aspiring Emperor--Hope!"

 

Shun raised an eyebrow.  _A Number...?_

**_(Number 39: Aspiring Emperor--Hope: Warrior/XYZ/Effect ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000 Rank: 4 Attribute: LIGHT)_ **

"Alright! Hope, attack his Vanishing Lanius! Hope Sword Slash!"

 

Instead of staying still and watching his monster about to be destroyed, Kurosaki ran and leapt onto a glowing blue platform, and then another, before plucking a floating card out of the sky and setting it on his Duel Disk. "Action Magic: Evasion!"

 

Yuma gaped as Hope's sword missed and hit the ground instead of Kurosaki's Vanishing Lanius. "What the heck was that?!" 

 

"Action Magic: magic cards unique to Action Duels. They can be added to the hand at any phase...if you can find them. Only one Action card can be added to your hand every time." Shun leapt off the blue platform and landed on the ground gracefully. "Are you going to continue your turn?"

 

"Alright," Yuma said dejectedly. "I'll set two cards and end my turn."

 

"My turn! Draw!" A slow smile came over Shun's face before he turned back to the field. "I'll summon Fuzzy Lanius! When I control another Raidraptors monster other than this one, I can Special Summon it from my hand!"

 

_**(Raidraptors-Fuzzy Lanius: Winged-Beast/Effect ATK: 500 DEF: 1500 Level: 4 Attribute: DARK)** _

 

"I'll use these 3 monsters to overlay!"

 

_Here it comes!_ Mizael thought. 

 

The gold and purple spiral formed in front of Shun and the three metallic birds turned into purple rays of light, flying into the spiral. 

 

"Obscured falcon! From adversity, raise your sharpened claws! Spread your wings of rebellion! XYZ SHOUKAN! Come forth! Rank 4! Raidraptors: Rise Falcon!" 

 

The metallic bird of prey gave a cry as it soared out of the spiral, 3 orbs of purple light circling it. 

 

_**(Raidraptors-Rise Falcon: Winged Beast/XYZ/Effect ATK: 100 DEF: 2000 Rank: 4 Attribute: DARK)** _

__

"Wait a moment. Only 100 attack points?" Rio raised an eyebrow. "Something's off about this monster."

 

"Don't be surprised," Shun said calmly. "I'll activate the Rank-Up Magic: Skip Force! With this, I can target one Raidraptors XYZ monster on my field and Special Summon a Raidraptors that's two ranks higher!"

 

Nearly everyone gaped. 

 

"Prideful falcon! Spread your wings dyed in the blood of heroes! Advance through the path of revolution! RANK-UP XYZ CHANGE! Come forth! Raidraptors: Revolution Falcon!"

 

_**(Raidraptors-Revolution Falcon: Winged Beast/XYZ/Effect ATK: 2000 DEF: 3000 Rank: 6 Attribute: DARK)** _

__

"2000 Attack points? It's still not going to match up to Hope's!"

 

"Is that what you think?" Kurosaki asked. 

 

Yuma gulped as Kurosaki turned to him, golden eyes blazing. 

 

* * *

 

"And with that, Yuma loses to Kurosaki!" Ryoga declared as the dueling field faded from view and Yuma lying shocked on his back.

 

"That was awesome, Kurosaki!" Alit gushed. "Duel me later!"

 

"Duel me!" Gilag argued, shoving Alit out of the way. "I'd like to see you try winning against my deck!"

 

Shun shrugged nonchalantly, and moved out of the way as Yuma nearly collided with him. "That was so cool! Your deck is really awesome!"

 

"Get the hang of Action Magic and you might get an upper hand next time," the older duelist said flatly.

 

"Alright, stop mobbing him!" Mizael yelled. He shoved his way past Alit and met Kurosaki's eyes. "I need to talk with you."

 

"About?"

 

"The Tenjo Kaito of your world."


	8. Dimension-Skipping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm late, sorry about that. I'm speeding through the plot now as I do want to finish this. Shun staying in the ZeXal Heartland would slow things down by quite a bit, so yeah, things are going to speed up in this chapter.

 

In a remote place covered with snow and cold winds howling day and night, two males were comfortably seated in a sealed building, typing rapidly into keyboards. In front of them, a huge sphere glowed with a blue crystal pendant floating inside. The sphere slowly rotated on its axis, lines of code and words glowing on its surface. The younger of the males stopped typing to take a drink of coffee from his mug, and sighed as he looked at his screen. "Any chance we'll finish this in less than a week?" Tenjo Kaito asked his former mentor, Chris Arclight. 

 

Chris's stopped typing. "I don't know. Through the data we obtained from Kurosaki Shun's Duel Disk, we were able to complete this quite quickly. Getting it to transport you to the correct place is a different matter entirely. Sakaki Yuya's pendant is not a strong enough catalyst to make sure you get to the right place."

 

"Astral confirmed earlier that the pendant was made of something similar to astralite but it wasn't from his world," Kaito mused. "We might end up in an alternate version of the Astral World for all we know. Orbital!"

 

"At your service, Kaito-sama!"

 

"Analyze this information and run some simulations on it. I'm calling Mizael."

 

"Understood, Kaito-sama!"

 

"What's there to tell Mizael about?" Chris asked. 

 

"I might need Tachyon."

 

"That's the one monster he won't part with."

 

"I'm not telling him to part with Tachyon. I'm telling him to get over here with Kurosaki Shun."

 

"Whatever works for you, Kaito," Chris replied as he went back to typing.

 

* * *

 

"Alright, what do you know about the Kaito from my world?"

 

"He visited me in a dream last night. Said his soul was drifting through dimensions after he got killed."

 

Shun stiffened. "What did he say?"

 

"Not much. He showed me the current situation in your world."

 

"What's going on?"

 

"Jack Atlas and that other guy...Gongenzaka or something like that have been defeated."

 

"That's one more Lancer down," Kurosaki said, almost sadly if not for the neutral look on his face.

 

"He also said that there was one more Lancer who's a complete idiot."

 

"I think you're talking about Sawatari. He is an idiot and lost more duels than I can count, but he can delay Zarc for a while...I think." Kurosaki looked more like he was trying to convince himself than Mizael. 

 

"You think?"

 

"Assuming he doesn't lose on his first turn."

 

"How bad of a duelist is he exactly?"

 

Shun winced. "He's maybe on the same level as Yuma. He has a huge ego. But he does consider Yuya a rival, so..." He trailed off.

 

Mizael's D-Gazer chirped, and Mizael answered it. "Oh, Kaito. How's the research?"

 

_"Can you and Kurosaki come to the research facility?"_

"What for?"

 

_"Chris and I have gotten the dimension-skipping device working earlier than expected, which is an advantage, but Sakaki Yuya's pendant is not a strong enough catalyst to make sure we end up in Kurosaki's world. We'll need Tachyon and maybe Kurosaki's XYZ monsters as well, but I know you won't part with him, so I need you two here to ensure that the device works."_

"How exactly do we get there?"

 

_"I'll come back to Heartland City in a few hours or so to pick you two up."_

"Alright, then." Mizael closed the call and turned to Kurosaki. "Looks like you can get back to your own world soon."

 

An expression of relief crossed Kurosaki's face briefly before he looked serious again. "Hopefully we'll get there before Zarc destroys everything."

 

"We will definitely make it in time," Mizael said.

 

"How do you know?"

 

"Have some faith in your friends...I'm sure they'll be able to keep your world from getting destroyed."

 

Kurosaki nodded. "Thank you, Mizael."

 

"It's nothing."

 

"I really think the Kaito in my world would have liked to meet you in person," Kurosaki said with a small smile. "You two would probably be feuding over the Galaxy-Eyes."

 

"I did that once with Kaito and it didn't end well. Come on, you might as well say goodbye to the other Barians and Yuma."

 

"Alright."

 

* * *

 

As expected, not everyone was happy to see Kurosaki leave. Alit, Gilag and Vector were annoyed that they couldn't duel Kurosaki. Rio, Ryoga and Durbe had wanted to know more about the Heartland Kurosaki lived in, and weren't pleased that their source of information was leaving. And of course, Yuma wanted to duel Kurosaki one more time, to which Kurosaki declined. 

 

"Come ooooon!" Yuma whined. "I wanna try Action Duels again!"

 

"No," Kurosaki replied. "You'll get your wish soon enough later anyways if Kaito's got all the information from my Duel Disk saved into whatever databases you guys have."

 

"Well, for all it's worth, it was nice to meet you," Rio said. "I hope you can save your home."

 

Kurosaki smiled slightly. "I hope nothing happens to your world."

 

"It better not," Ryoga muttered. "I really don't want to save the world again."

 

"Even if I'm the one to destroy it again?" Vector asked, smirking widely. 

 

"Try that one more time, I dare you," Ryoga retorted. 

 

Rio's eye twitched. "I'd appreciate it if you two stopped arguing."

 

"Hai, hai," the two muttered. 

 

Just then, the sound of rotating blades filled the air, and the group looked up to see a large helicopter slowly descending down on them. The door was open, and Kaito's figure was leaning out of the door. "Mizael! Kurosaki! Climb on!" A rope ladder unfurled and hit the ground before Mizael, and he grabbed on, gesturing for Kurosaki to follow. The Raidraptors duelist jumped on after Mizael, and waved a goodbye to Yuma, Astral, and the rest of the Barians. 

 

"Goodbye!"

 

"Hope you make it back safely!"

 

"Duel me again!" Clearly Yuma.

 

Kaito shut the door as soon as Kurosaki got on, and gestured for them to sit. "The ride will take a couple hours or so, so I have time to explain the situation. Like I told you, the transportation device is working, but we have no idea if we'll get to the Fusion Dimension."

 

"It should be alright if you input the coordinates to the Synchro Dimension," Shun replied. "I told you before, all the worlds are in the same dimension right now."

 

"I want to be as precise as possible. I've found out that Photon and Tachyon resonate with the Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon that the Kaito of your world wields, so if we use our dragons as catalysts, we can travel right to the place where you dueled Zarc--the Fusion Dimension."

 

"That makes sense," Kurosaki replied. 

 

"And then once we arrive, Mizael and I will keep Zarc at bay with our dragons. You should check on your comrades and hasten Ray's revival if possible--she's the only one that can fully stop the demon duelist."

 

"If that's the case, then use this card. I think it'll come in useful. You did tell me that the power of _three_ dragons are needed to defend against Zarc," Kurosaki said, sliding a card out from his deck and handing it to Kaito. Kaito glanced at it and nodded. 

 

"Thank you, Kurosaki."

 

"Which card is it?" Mizael asked.

 

Kaito flipped it so Mizael could see, and the blond Dragon Tamer nodded in realization.

 

"You guys have a plan?"

 

"Yeah. Cipher visited me again, and told us what we had to do. Don't worry about it."

 

"One question: by chance if we do succeed and stop Zarc, how will you two get back to this Heartland?"

 

Kaito shrugged. "Chris is working on that...but I think the dragons have more than enough abilities to get us back to our world."

 

"Don't underestimate Tachyon," Mizael added.

 

"Oh, and Kurosaki?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Introduce me formally to my counterpart after this is all done and over with."

 

"He's dead, you know that."

 

Kaito smiled mysteriously. "Maybe not."

 

The three sat in silence for the next few hours, Kurosaki pondering over what Kaito had told him, Mizael sleeping, and Kaito busy typing away on a laptop.

 

* * *

 

"This place is cold," Mizael complained as they got off the helicopter. "Of all the places you chose to build a research facility, you choose a frozen hell in the corner of this earth."

 

"There's privacy and plenty of space, so don't complain."

 

Once the trio had entered the lab where Chris was, the oldest Arclight brother stood up to greet them. "How was the trip?"

 

"Not bad."

 

"You two have the Galaxy-Eyes dragons?"

 

"Yeah."

 

Mizael and Kaito each took out their dragons, which were glowing with a soft blue light, and tossed them up into the sphere where Yuya's pendant was. Shun gaped momentarily before steeling himself, making sure his Duel Disk was at the ready. The three stepped onto a platform right beside the sphere.

 

"Preparations...set. Energy flow...regular. Setting coordinates...to the Fusion Dimension."

 

A blinding light began to burst out from the sphere, and Shun could barely hear Chris's shout of "good luck" before his consciousness faded. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next stop: Fusion Dimension.


	9. Descend! Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES IT'S HERE IT'S HERE IT'S HERE
> 
> *ahem* 
> 
> I've been waiting for months to post this chapter. If you guys read the title, I've made a new Galaxy-Eyes dragon and I hope you guys like the summoning chant I made up. Also, if you see that Kaito and Mizael know more than usual, their dragons told them everything. Enjoy!

Mizael and Kaito opened their eyes and gaped at the scene in front of their eyes. Huge islands floated in the sky, each one with different buildings and waterfalls flowing from them. Looking around, they saw that they were on an almost militaristic looking island, everything looking very neat and organized, if not for the demolished buildings that were spilling rubble into the streets. Kaito turned to Shun, who was rubbing his eyes. "Where are we?"

 

"This...is where I dueled Zarc. You guys were spot on with your tech." Kurosaki looked around, and found Yuya's pendant and the two Galaxy-Eyes cards on the ground next to him. He gave the cards back to their respective owners and took Yuya's pendant, slipping it into his pocket.

 

"What's that island with the really tall white buildings?" Mizael asked. 

 

"The Synchro Dimension. Or part of it, at least. The one with the hourglass building is part of the Standard Dimension. And you can see for yourself that the demolished island is the XYZ dimension. This is the Fusion Dimension. Let's go." Shun took off running in another direction, seemingly able to find his way through the area. 

 

Mizael whistled as he saw a huge black dragon blast off the tops of the buildings in the Synchro Dimension with one burst of energy. "This looks worse than what we went through with the Barian World fusing with the human world."

 

"Focus, Mizael," Kaito said. "We're going to lose Kurosaki if we don't hurry up."

 

"Hai, hai," Mizael muttered as he ran to catch up with Shun, Kaito following close behind him. 

 

Shun led them into a harbor of some sorts, where Mizael noticed some things immediately: a broken body looking just like Kaito's lying lifelessly beside a broken lamppost, a house with its terracotta roof cracked, and two half-conscious boys matching Yuma's descriptions of Shiunin Sora and Edo Phoenix. Mizael and Kaito watched on as Shun went over to Sora and shook him. "Oi, Shiunin Sora! Snap out of it!"

 

"Ngh...Kurosaki...just what...whoa." Sora sat up, now fully awake, and he gaped at Mizael and Kaito. "Who are these two? And is that Kaito?! Isn't he dead?!"

 

"Enough with the small details; tell me what's going on here."

 

"Gongenzaka...and Jack Atlas challenged Zarc...and they lost...then Sawatari and some other Synchro duelist...I think his name is Crow....they lost as well. The Professor lost to Zarc after one turn. Akaba Reiji is dueling Zarc at the moment. So, who are these two?"

 

"They're allies."

 

"Hopefully you and your new friends can defeat Zarc...because it looks like Akaba Reiji just got defeated."

 

Sora's words were true as Shun saw the energy blast from one of the dragons  (was that Odd-Eyes?) hit Reiji's defense position monster and blast the teenager backwards, before his body suddenly disappeared and a log with his scarf reappeared in its place, while Shun noticed Tsukikage appear in a garden of some sorts with Reiji and Akaba Leo. 

 

**"NOW! WHO WILL FACE ME? IS THIS ALL YOU HAVE TO THROW AT ME WITH MY REVIVAL? PATHETIC!"** Zarc roared as his massive dragon demolished more buildings. 

 

Mizael and Kaito exchanged glances, and Shun gaped at what happened next. 

 

Kaito was surrounded by a white aura, and his clothing changed from dark grey to pure white. His left eye turned red, a blue tattoo materializing over it. Mizael's left eye had also turned red, a lightning-bolt like blue tattoo surrounding it. 

 

"What..."

 

"Later," Mizael called as he and Kaito ran towards the broken body of the Cipher duelist. "We'll be bringing this guy back to life first." He turned to the Photon duelist, and smirked. "He really does look like you."

 

Kaito shrugged and brought out Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, Mizael doing the same with Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon. They held the glowing cards over the lifeless body, and a bright light started to emanate from the Cipher duelist's Duel Disk, a card floating out to join the two others: Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon. The three cards poured blue light onto the broken body, and Sora, Edo, and Shun gaped as bones slotted back into place, glass fragments dissolved, and open wounds closing. And suddenly, Tenjo Kaito gasped and sat up. "I'm...alive?" He groaned and rubbed the area where his neck had broken. "Oh...so Cipher's call for help made it through...thanks, Shun." 

 

Kurosaki was still gaping at the fact that Kaito was alive, and was completely silent. 

 

The Cipher duelist took Mizael's offered hand and pulled himself to his feet. "Nice to finally meet you two in person, Mizael...and my counterpart, Kaito."

 

"Wait a minute," interrupted Edo, who had watched the entire thing. "What are we supposed to call you two now? It's going to get confusing calling both of you Kaito."

 

"Easy!" Sora said. "White Kaito wears the white coat and Black Kaito is wearing the black one."

 

"Thank you for the nice nickname," the Cipher duelist said blandly. He turned to Mizael. "Let's start. Shun! Ray is in the farthest building in Academia! Use Yuya's pendant to channel the energy from our dragons! I'll leave things up to you!"

 

Shun shook himself out of his stupor and nodded. "Got it! You'd better not die again."

 

"Don't plan on it." 

 

Shun sprinted off into the buildings of Duel Academia. 

 

With the Raidraptors duelist gone, the three Dragon Tamers activated their Duel Disks. Mizael called out. "ZARC!"

 

The massive dragon turned, and feral yellow eyes locked with Mizael's blue eyes. The former's eyes actually widened in shock. **"No...what sorcery is this? You should not have been able to come here. Not anyone from the United World! And you...I know I killed you."**

"Don't underestimate the power of the Galaxy-Eyes dragons. They will transcend space and time to reunite with their brethren."

 

**"This still should not have happened! You duelists of the past...you should never have been reincarnated!"**

"I don't get a single damn thing you're talking about!" Mizael yelled.

 

"Before the world was split into the Standard, XYZ, Fusion, and Synchro Dimensions, the world was united as one," said a tired voice. "People like Yuki Judai, Fudo Yusei, and Tsukumo Yuma were legendary duelists from the distant past. You...Tenjo Kaito, Edo Phoenix, Tenjouin Asuka, Crow Hogan, and Jack Atlas...were also revered duelists of our world. When the world was split by my daughter, some of you were reincarnated into the world with different decks but with similar appearances and personalities." Akaba Leo had spoken, ignoring the stares of shock he was receiving.

 

**"The power of the Galaxy-Eyes was lost before the world was split,"** Zarc rumbled. **"It had already been centuries since the deaths of the founders of XYZ summoning, and with the deaths of Tenjo Kaito and Mizael the Dragon Tamer, no one could wield the power of the Galaxy-Eyes...the power that rivals the 4 cards Akaba Leo made. That is why I killed the reincarnated Tenjo Kaito and his Cipher Dragon to ensure that there was no chance of the Galaxy-Eyes opposing me...enough talk! It doesn't matter if he's alive right now or whether you two came from an alternate reality to stop me. I will crush you three all the same and make sure you _stay_ dead."**

"Good, then you'll be happy to know that you  _won't_ kill us. Let's start by bringing out your second-worst enemy, shall we? The three Dragon Tamers are together, and that means we can summon _him_."

 

**"You wouldn't...!"** Zarc's dragon head reared and sent a blast of energy towards Mizael and the two Kaitos, but a shimmering blue dome formed around them and redirected the beam towards the sky. **"Bastards...!"**

"Let's go."

 

"On it."

 

"Don't need to tell me twice."

 

Tachyon had told Mizael everything about the Galaxy-Eyes during his nap on the helicopter, while Photon had informed Kaito while he was in the lab. They knew exactly what to do.

 

"Too bad this won't be a normal duel. Appear now! Chaos Number 107: Neo Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon!"

 

"Come out, Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"

 

"Descend, Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"

 

**"Bastards!"**

"You've caused enough pain and suffering for one world!" The Cipher duelist yelled at Zarc. The three Galaxy-Eyes roared, ready to unleash all their fury on the black dragon. 

 

"Magic Card, activate! This will raise the rank of Neo Tachyon to 12!"

 

"Magic Card, activate! Cipher and Photon will gain the same rank as Neo Tachyon!"

 

"And finally..." The Photon duelist took out the card Kurosaki had given him earlier. "Magic Card, Cross XYZ!"

 

**"You bastards!"** Zarc sent another blast of energy at the Dragon Tamers, but it was again, redirected to the sky. 

 

"With our Galaxy-Eyes, we overlay! The overlay network will be built with these three dragons!"

 

And suddenly, the surroundings shifted and changed until the three were standing in outer space, surrounded by stars and galaxies. A rumbling voice spoke. _**"Who calls me from my slumber?"**_

__

"The three wielders of the Galaxy-Eyes."

 

_**"Then I will lend you my power just this once, you who wield my fragments. Use it well and defeat the darkness."** _

__

The scene faded, and the trio glanced at each other, and nodded. They opened their mouths, and spoke in unison. "Ultimate guardian of light and creator of the galaxies that dwells in solitude! Be revived from the time before time and raze whoever dares tarnish your creation! CROSS XYZ CHANGE! DESCEND, THE UNKNOWN NUMBER, GALAXY-EYES CELESTIAL DRAGON!"

 

* * *

__

The new dragon, so to say, was breathtaking. 

 

It was the same size as Zarc, only looking much more terrifying, yet beautiful at the same time. Wings longer than Zarc's extended, shimmering in every colour of the visible spectrum and then some. The eyes were collections of spiral and elliptical galaxies. It had three heads, and each head was plated with metallic scales, iridescent colours reflecting off it. The three overlay units circled the dragon, each one a different colour. Gold for Tachyon, red for Photon, and blue for Cipher. A black " **?** " was emblazoned on its right wing.

 

Everyone stared.

 

"Amazing..." breathed Edo.

 

"Just what..." Sora whispered. 

 

"Unknown Number...?"

 

Mizael and other two didn't look too fazed, though. The dragon rumbled, and spoke. _**"So you are the one that dares to play God and destroy what I have rightfully created...you will pay."**_

__

**"You will not interfere! Be gone!"** Zarc summoned his 4 dragons. **"Supreme King Dragon Servants! Odd-Eyes! Dark Rebellion! Clear Wing! Starve Venom!"** The twisted versions of the dragons appeared, and roared. 

 

_**"As if your little servants could harm their creator. Pay for your sins, you arrogant child!"**_ Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon opened its three jaws and blasted the dragons with golden bursts of light, causing Zarc to howl in pain as his black dragon's body burned under the light. The four dragons that belonged to Yuya, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri had been destroyed.

 

**"You...unforgivable! You're just like those worthless humans who looked down on me just for my abilities! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHY I DID THIS??"**

A starry eye looked down at Zarc, full of disdain. _**"You were meant to be something great, but you fell down to the darkness. You have no one to blame but yourself."**_

 

**"SHUT UP! I WILL DESTROY THE DIMENSIONS AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME!"**

_**"In my eyes, you are nothing more than the adversaries that once were intent on destroying the earth. I have watched the duelists of each generation defeat their respective enemies, and they were much more powerful than you were."**_ The dragon flew high into the sky, and Zarc followed in pursuit, and a battle began to ensue in the skies. The strikes were fast enough that no human eye could see them clearly. Streaks of black clashed against streaks of gold and blue, and roars shook the skies. 

 

"It's a battle of dragons..." Mizael said as he gazed at the heavens. "We should not interfere."

 

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Leo asked. "Ray is not reviving and the dimensions are continuing to fuse. We have little time."

 

"Time is not a factor in this battle," the Photon duelist said dismissively. "The world is under the power of the Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon. I believe your daughter will return in due time and separate Zarc into the 4 boys that are his counterparts and your comrades."

 

"But...!"

 

"You've said enough," the Cipher duelist said acidly. "You were the one who started this mess anyways. I've seen the past with Cipher's power when I was killed. Your Real Solid Vision caused Zarc's downfall to darkness. You kidnapped Ruri, Rin, and Yuzu to bring your daughter back, not caring that they had their own happy lives and could keep Zarc at bay with their very presence. You devastated the XYZ dimension, my  _home_ , just for the life energy. By separating the girls from Yuto and the others, they naturally would traverse the dimensions to find the one close to their heart, and they would ultimately meet each other and remember the evil being they once were. But," he added offhandedly as he saw Leo's guilt plainly showing on his face, "I can't condemn you. I probably would not have met the original Tenjo Kaito or Mizael had you not done this. I carded many of your soldiers in my lust for vengeance against Academia. I'm not much better than you."

 

Mizael and Kaito stared at the Cipher duelist, shocked that he would compare himself to Akaba Leo. 

 

Suddenly, the two dragons came shooting back down. Celestial had gotten ahold of the black dragon's neck and slammed it into a (hopefully) empty part of the XYZ island, causing the land to disintegrate under the combined weight of the two dragons. Zarc roared in pain as Celestial blasted him again with bursts of light. _**"I believe I have done enough."**_ The three overlay units detached and morphed into glowing chains, pinning down Zarc and lashing him against the island. _**"But, it is not my place to destroy you. You have stolen the lives of 4 innocent boys just because they are you; now the one who originally split you will be reborn again to purify you."**_

__

The black dragon struggled uselessly against the chains. Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon turned to the three Dragon Tamers. _**"This is the most I can do, for even the creator must bow to fate once in a while. The daughter of Akaba Leo will be reborn with her own body with my power, and she will rescue the one that has gone down the wrong path. We will not meet again after this ordeal, but I am grateful that my fragments are in hands of capable young duelists."**_ The dragon began to dissolve into motes of light that gathered, shooting into the air and towards the place where Kaito knew Ray would be. 

 

Mizael quickly snatched the card of Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon off his Duel Disk and read its effect. "It banishes itself from the game after the end phase of your turn and cannot be retrieved by any means. But by Don Thousand, is it powerful..."

 

"It is meant to defeat the opponent in one turn, with nearly impossible summoning conditions," said Kaito, who had remained in Photon mode. "But if you do summon it, it will grant you absolute victory. A true dragon that embodies the very concept of the universe's creator."

 

"The card's disappearing as well," said Kaito (the Cipher duelist). "Shun should be here soon with Ray. I hope he is alright."

 

"Why wouldn't he be?" Mizael asked.

 

"His sister Ruri...she is in Ray. If Ray is anything like Zarc, there is a chance Shun may not see her as her spirit will be gone...and it will crush him."

 

As if on cue, the building where Ray was supposed to be exploded with pink light. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope I did Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon justice. No worries, it will make a reappearance, but I still want to bring out Ray. Plus, I did want to bring Kaito back to life. He's my favourite character!
> 
> Also, I didn't make up names for the magic cards that changed the ranks of the Galaxy-Eyes. I'll leave it up to your imagination, as I don't know if these cards actually exist.


	10. Ray revives! Reappearance of the Yu-Boys and Bracelet Girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the big finale......not. Enjoy!

 

_With Shun_

Shun ran into the hallways of Academia, pausing occasionally as the walls warped and twisted due to the dimensional integration. To be honest, he had no idea where he was going. But somewhere deep down, he knew where he was going--to his sister Ruri. Trusting his instincts, he sprinted down a darkened hallway and stopped when he reached a door, green light spilling out from under the crack. Shun cautiously pushed at the door, and it opened. His eyes widened in shock at the scene in front of him. 

 

A metallic construct made of hollow semi-cylinders was sunk deep into the room, a bridge leading to the middle. Green light burst from the middle and cast greenish shadows everywhere, and Shun could faintly see the outline of a body floating above the centre of the construct. His sharp eyes caught a trace of movement and he saw Reira attempting to climb onto the construct, only to cry out as his hands slipped, leaving him dangling precariously at the edge of the construct.

 

"Reira!" Shun ran onto the bridge and rushed to the young boy, catching him before he fell. "What do you think you were doing?!"

 

"K-kurosaki?" Reira mumbled. "Ray...I have to go to her...she's the only one...that can defeat Zarc."

 

"I know that. What are you doing here?"

 

"I can hear her voice...she needs a host to defeat Zarc. She doesn't have her own body."

 

"And you plan on being her host?"

 

Reira nodded silently. 

 

Shun gently pulled Reira away from the centre of the construct. "There's another way, Reira. One that...may not need you to use your body."

 

Reira looked up at Shun, silent.  

 

Shun turned and called out to the floating gold figure. "RAY!"

 

The figure turned its head, and golden pupiless eyes locked with Shun's. He could hear Ray's voice ghost through his mind.  _You are...Ruri's brother, Shun. What are you doing here?_

"Listen, Ray," Shun said, trying to keep his voice level. "I just returned from an alternate dimension. The Galaxy-Eyes dragons are battling Zarc right now. One of the Galaxy-Eyes wielders, Tenjo Kaito, told me to use this pendant to channel the power from the Galaxy-Eyes here. Do you know what that means?"

 

Ray gave a brief nod.  _I have heard legends about the power the Galaxy-Eyes possessed. When the time is right, throw the pendant into the void where my spirit is. I believe I will get my body back once it happens._

"Understood."

 

_Thank you. And...Ruri says she's happy to see that you are alright._

"Ruri? She's in you?"

 

_She cannot manifest herself right now...but she wishes to let you know that she is alive. Yuzu, Serena, and Rin...they are also alive._

"Thank god...Ruri's alive..." 

 

Reira tugged at Shun's sleeve. "I can sense it...the power...it's coming."

 

"Alright." Shun took a deep breath, aimed, and tossed Yuya's pendant high into the air, on a straight course towards Ray's golden spirit. It hung in the air, suspended for a second, before the roof was blasted open and a bright light hit the pendant. Reira cried out in terror and Shun pulled the young boy close to him to shield him from the power that radiated Ray's spirit. He shielded his eyes and looked at Ray, and he gaped in shock as her body began to solidify and visible features formed: dark red and maroon pigtails held in place by dark barrettes, pale skin, and a face that looked so much like Ruri's that Shun had to pinch himself to confirm that he wasn't dreaming. He averted his eyes as a pink light settled around Ray's still-formless body, and looked up when a hand touched his shoulder. 

 

"Thank you, Shun."

 

"Ray..." 

 

_Nii-san!_ Ruri's voice cried out, and Shun watched as Ruri's transparent figure appear, a grateful smile on her face. _Thank goodness you're alive!_

"Ruri!"

 

_Nii-san...we have to go now...to save Yuto and the others. I'll come back nii-san, so let me go, okay?_

"I promised father and mother that I wouldn't let go you somewhere dangerous without me...but I guess I have no choice in this. Go."

 

_Thank you, nii-san._

Ray gave him a quick smile and turned to Reira, who was staring at her in undisguised awe. "Hey, Reira-kun. Thank you for listening to my voice. Will you give me the card I told you about?"

 

Reira nodded silently as he handed it over to Ray, who slid it into her own Duel Disk. She then turned to Shun. "You're a psychic duelist?"

 

Shun nodded.  

 

"Summon one of your monsters and get yourself and Reira out of here. I'll have to unleash some power to get to Zarc, and I'd rather that you two not get caught up in the crossfire. You have 5 seconds. Go!"

 

"You'd better bring my sister and Yuto back," Shun said flatly as he activated his Duel Disk. "Satellite Cannon Falcon!" His rank 8 Raidraptors appeared and gave a cry.

 

_1._

 

Holding Reira tightly, Shun jumped onto the metallic bird of prey and it took flight, flying towards the hole in the roof. 

 

_2._

Reira screamed as Satellite Cannon Falcon accelerated, bursting out of the roof and into the sky. 

 

_3._

Shun immediately noticed Zarc was chained to a part of the XYZ dimension, roaring with fury. He saw Reiji and Tsukikage and directed his falcon to fly towards them. 

 

_4._

Time slowed as Shun saw pink light began to shine out of the broken roof, and he willed Satellite Cannon to fly faster. 

 

_5._

The building exploded just as Shun landed, sending shockwaves out in every direction. Mizael and the two Kaitos were forced to their knees, while everyone else was knocked onto the ground. 

 

"Ray!" Leo cried out. 

 

"She's alive and has a body," Shun said coldly as he gave Reira to Tsukikage. "Thanks to the Galaxy-Eyes."

 

Ray's figure floated above the rubble of the building. She was riding a monster unknown to the majority to the duelists (it was Rin's Wind Witch--Winter Bell). She landed on the ledge not far from Zarc's struggling body. "Zarc!"

 

**"Ray...so you've returned."**

 

"I will come back if you come back. If you try to destroy this world, I will protect it!" Ray activated her Duel Disk. "My turn, draw! From my hand, I'll activate the Magic Card, Transmigrating Life Force! I'll send my entire hand to the graveyard and set En Flowers, En Birds, En Wind, and En Moon from the graveyard!"

 

"The summoning conditions have been set!" Leo said with hope in his voice.

 

**"You...!"** Zarc struggled against the chains, and snapped the golden one. Mizael gasped in pain and collapsed on the ground, the destruction of Neo Tachyon inflicting damage to his own body.

 

"Continuous Magic, activate! En Flowers!"

 

A band of pink light shot out, and flowers suddenly began to bloom all around them. 

 

"If there are at least 3 XYZ monsters in the graveyard when I activate En Flowers, I can activate the Continuous Magic, En Birds! All XYZ monsters on the field, graveyard, or banished are turned into Normal Monsters with their effects negated!" Flocks of birds flew around the dimensions, while the black XYZ cards changed colour on Zarc's Duel Disk.

 

**"Bitch!"** Zarc broke the red one, causing the Photon duelist to collapse to the ground. With gritted teeth, he deactivated his Photon mode but kept the tattoo. 

 

"And if there are at least 3 Synchro monsters in the graveyard when I activate En Birds, I can activate the Continuous Magic, En Wind! All Synchro Monsters on the field, graveyard and banished are turned into Normal Monsters with their effects negated!" Winds began to blow throughout the area, while the white Synchro monsters changed colour. 

 

"And finally, if there are 3 or more Fusion monsters in the graveyard when I activate En Wind, I can activate the last Continuous Magic, En Moon!" The clouds parted to reveal a full, red moon. The purple Fusion cards shifted to Normal Monster cards.

 

**"RAY!"** Zarc bellowed as he broke the last chain. The Cipher duelist collapsed, clutching his chest in agony. 

 

But it was too late. 

 

"Due to the effect of En Flowers, all monsters on the field that had their effects negated are destroyed!" Ray raised her right hand, and the four bracelets materialized around her wrist. The bracelets shone with multi-coloured light, and Zarc screamed in pain as his dragon was blasted by the power from the bracelets. 

 

"Listen to me, Zarc! No, Yuya, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri! None of you were meant to be like this! You aren't monsters!" Ray yelled at the dragon hybrid. 

 

**"SHUT UP! THEY'RE GONE! I AM NOT THEM!"**

"Zarc! You too! You weren't like this before! Come back and let's fix our mistakes together!"

 

_"Yuya...Yuya!"_ And suddenly, Yuzu's image was projected from Ray. _"Yuya! I know you're in there. You're not a monster! You dueled to bring smiles to everyone_ _!"_

**"SCREW SMILES! I DUEL FOR FEAR! I DUEL TO GIVE FEAR TO THOSE WHO USED ME AS A TOOL!"**

_"That's not true! You chased after me after I wound up in another dimension! No mater what happened, you would always chase after me! Listen to my voice, Yuya! Because of you, I became  stronger!"_ Yuzu's voice became softer. _"Let's go back home, Yuya. Back to You Show, back to Ayu, Futoshi and Tatsuya, back to Dad and Yoko-san!"_

Zarc's eyes flickered red for a moment, and he gasped out one word in Yuya's voice. "Yu....zu....."

 

_"Yuya!"_

And Zarc's golden eyes took over again. **"YUYA IS DEAD! HE IS NO MORE!"**

_"No!"_ Ruri cried, as she took Yuzu's place. _"Yuya exists within you. So does Yuto! Yuto, please listen to me! Let's go back home with nii-san and Kaito and rebuild our home together! You're not a monster either! You went to the Standard Dimension with nii-san to find me! Yuto!!"_

This time, Zarc's eyes flickered to grey, and Yuto's voice was heard. "Ru...ri...."

 

**"YOU'RE LIARS! THEY'RE DEAD! THEY'RE ALL DEAD!"** Gold eyes took over again, glowing with rage.

_"Yugo, you idiot!"_ A green-haired girl with orange eyes took Ruri's place. 

 

"So that's Rin..." Edo murmured, a sentence that was echoed by the majority of the other duelists. 

 

_"Remember! You came all the way here to save me! You're not a monster or whatever you think you are! You were the only one that cared for me back in Commons! Come back and let's win the next Friendship Cup together!"_

Blue eyes took over gold. "Rin...!" Yugo's voice. 

 

**"YOU'RE WRONG! ALL WRONG!"** However, Zarc's voice sounded weaker, and his eyes were losing their glow. 

 

"It's working!" Reiji said. "The girls are pulling Yuya and the others out of the darkness!"

 

"Serena's the last one..." Sora said. "But doesn't she hate Yuri?"

 

Mizael, who had forced himself into a sitting position, glanced at Leo. "I wonder whose fault is that now."

 

Leo looked annoyed, but didn't reply. 

 

_"Yuri!"_ Serena appeared, irritation flashing through her eyes. 

 

"Well, looks like she appeared," Sora said dryly. "I'm expecting a long lecture."

 

_"I don't care what you think you are! Sure, you've carded so many people and kidnapped Ruri and Rin, but you weren't a monster to start with! I remember the past that we both forgot! You were someone who loved to duel for the fun of it, not just for war! Remember the days that we were still younger and had fun dueling! So listen, you sadistic plant freak! Get out of the darkness before I feed you to your own precious carnivorous plants!."_

At least 4 duelists sweatdropped, despite the seriousness of the situation. "Is she always like that...?" 

 

Zarc's eyes flickered dark pink. "What a hassle...Serena..." It was Yuri's voice. 

 

"There is proof!" Ray cried, as Serena's image faded. "Yuya, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri! They're still alive, and inside you!"

 

**"WRONG! THEY'RE DEAD!"**

"Zarc! You don't have to be a monster either! Let's go back to the days when you also dueled for entertainment! So please, snap out of it and come back!" Ray raised her arm, the bracelets glowing with a blinding light. 

 

Zarc screamed as reality itself around him cracked. 

 

"No, Ray!" Leo cried. "You're going to split the dimensions and start the cycle all over again!"

 

_**"I will not let that happen."** _

__

The transparent image of Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon formed from the light emanating from the bracelets. The mighty dragon turned to Ray and spoke. _**"Do what you must do. I will support you."**_

__

Ray nodded, and the light from her bracelets grew brighter, forcing everyone to close their eyes. Reality dissolved and cracked around them. 

 

The last sounds everyone heard were Zarc's screams of pain before they all succumbed to darkness.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now something like this should have happened in canon. All the Bracelet Girls appear one by one and call out to the respective Yu-Boy. I hope I wrote the girls in character. And of course, Ray gets her own body back. Should I have written more on the Yu-Boys? 
> 
> Anyways, this story is ending soon (cries). Thanks for all your support! There should be two more chapters before I'm done this story.


	11. Saying Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty late. Sorry. I got caught up with YuGiOh VRAINS and fell in love with Yusaku and Aoi and all the other characters. This story is complete, chapter 12 being an epilogue which really isn't relevant to the rest of the story. Enjoy? This does feel kinda rushed, I may rewrite parts later. 
> 
> NOTE: I will be inactive for the next 5 weeks due to summer camp. This is the last thing I'll post in a while.

_**Wake up.** _

_The words wormed their way into his consciousness, and he stirred._

 

_**Wake up, rebellious falcon.** _

_Piercing gold eyes snapped open. Kurosaki Shun was awake. "Where am I?" He wondered out loud. He was standing in a white space, looking down at 4 identical Earths. They were surrounded respectively by pink, purple, green, and blue auras._

 

_**This is the world that had been split into 4.** _

__

_Shun recognized the voice. "Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon!"_

_The dragon in question materialized in front of him. **Your world has been split apart once again, rebellious falcon.**_

__

_"Where's Ruri and Yuto? What happened to Ray and Zarc?"_

**_Do not worry. I have revived all of them. Your world shall remain split as XYZ, Synchro, Fusion, and the Standard dimension has been renamed the Pendulum Dimension, with portals that connect all 4 of them. Ray's and Zarc's incarnates have been revived in their respective dimension. The originals themselves have been purified of darkness and have been transported to the Pendulum Dimension._ **

__

_"So you're saying Ruri and Yuto are alive, with their own bodies, in the XYZ Dimension? And Zarc is no longer evil?"_

**_Yes. He was never evil to begin with. He was influenced and had fallen into the darkness, but I have cleansed him of the very darkness. He is no longer a threat to your world._ **

__

_"I see...what of Kaito and Mizael?"_

**_Tenjo Kaito and Mizael are still in the XYZ Dimension. They are helping to rebuild Heartland. Academia has made peace with the other 3 dimensions and is helping to rebuild._ **

__

_"Then...what about me?"_

_**Your body is currently comatose in the XYZ Dimension. I will send you back to your body once I finish talking with you.** _

__

_Shun stayed silent, waiting for Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon to finish speaking._

**_Never lose your strong feelings towards your comrades and family, Kurosaki Shun. They were the catalysts that brought you help in the darkest time of your life. I will send you back now._ **

__

_Shun had the distinct feeling that he was falling yet again, and darkness closed over him._

 

* * *

"...waking up anytime soon?" Kaito...which one?

 

".....don't know....." Mizael's voice.

 

"Shun, wake up!" Yuto's voice.

 

"Nii-san!" Ruri.

 

Shun opened his eyes to see Ruri and Yuto leaning over him. They hurriedly scrambled back when they saw his eyes open. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Mizael and the two Kaitos standing awkwardly a short distance away. "What happened?" He asked, his mind feeling fuzzy. 

 

"Nii-san!" Ruri cried and threw her arms around him. "You're awake!"

 

"Ruri!" Shun embraced his sister tightly. "Finally...finally you're back." Tears of happiness pooled on his eyes and threatened to spill down his face, but he didn't care. He finally got his sister back, after losing her too many times. 

 

Ruri simply clung onto him harder. 

 

Shun looked up while gently stroking his sister's hair. "Yuto...you're back as well!"

 

Yuto smiled at Shun--a real smile, not the forced ones he had when he was in the Standard Dimension hunting down LDS students. "I'm back, Shun. Thanks to you."

 

A large smile finally made its way across Shun's face. "Thank god..." Remembering that Mizael and Kaito were in the room, he coughed. "How long have I been out?"

 

"Hm...a day, give or take. None of us know how long it's been. What's the last thing you remember after reality split?" Mizael asked.

 

"Nothing...and then here?"

 

"Galaxy-Eyes Celestial Dragon visited us last night," the Photon duelist said. "It's been around a few days since Ray split Zarc, and these few days, he was repairing your world."

 

"Oh yeah...he visited me too. That was why I didn't wake up."

 

"Luckily, you were only in a coma for 1 day, or else Yuto and Ruri would have panicked more," said the Cipher duelist. 

 

"Can't blame us," Yuto said. "Shun, do you think you can stand?"

 

"Yeah." Ruri got off her brother and helped him up. "What's been going on in the other dimensions?"

 

"There are portals that connect all of the dimensions. Academia's made peace with the rest of us. They're helping rebuild Heartland, although not a lot of us trust them, which is natural. Most of the students there are undergoing therapy anyways, so only a few are actually helping out. I think most of us listened only when Sakaki Yusho told us to get along with them. According to the Synchro duelist...I think his name's Crow? The Synchro Dimension has reformed into a society where everyone's equal and the money's being distributed equally to all residents, so I guess that's good news for them. The Standard Dimension has been renamed the Pendulum Dimension after Yuya's Pendulum Summoning. In addition to Ruri and Yuto, Yuya, Yuzu, Yugo, Rin, Yuri, and Serena are alive and have their own bodies. They're in their respective dimensions. Also, everyone that has been carded have supposedly been turned back to normal, but there's still a lot of people missing..." Kaito trailed off. 

 

Shun immediately noticed and understood the saddened tone in his rival's voice. "You still can't find Haruto."

 

Kaito nodded, Mizael and the Photon duelist giving him sympathetic looks.

 

"Well, let's go and find him." 

 

The Photon duelist coughed and looked pointedly at Shun. Shun looked blankly at him before he groaned. "You're not serious."

 

"I am." The Photon duelist was smirking.

 

Shun sighed and yanked the Cipher duelist's collar so that he was facing his counterpart. "Tenjo Kaito, meet the other Tenjo Kaito. There's a 3 year difference in your ages. You guys should already be getting along. If you're not, that's your own problem." He stalked off, Ruri following him.

 

Yuto stared as the two Kaitos started laughing, a smirk appearing on Mizael's face as well. "What...?"

 

"Don't worry about it; it was a small request I made to him before we came here."

 

Yuto gaped and said nothing. 

 

The Cipher duelist laughed lightly. "Did you forget that Shun's an easy tease? Come on, let's go catch up to him and Ruri."

 

* * *

Rubble still littered the cracked streets of Heartland City, but the general atmosphere was less tense, almost happy. Relief workers from the Pendulum Dimension were handing out much-needed food, water and other supplies to the Heartland residents, while construction workers from both the Pendulum and XYZ dimensions were helping cart off rubble and rebuild various buildings. Some Duel Monsters were even seen in the distance carrying rubble around. 

 

"What's with the Duel Monsters?" Shun asked Yuto. 

 

"Some of the psychic duelists and duelists with Real Solid Vision on their disks are helping to clean up," Yuto replied. "Although I haven't seen that creepy bear-scissor-hybrid monster before."

 

"That's Shiunin Sora's Des-Toy Scissor Bear--wait, what's he doing here?"

 

"Helping out?" Mizael asked. "It looks like it's carrying around rubble."

 

Shun scowled. 

 

"Ah, that's Entermage Trapeze Magician!" Ruri cried. The XYZ monster in question was apparently entertaining the younger children, Dennis's bright orange hair visible from a distance.

 

"Dennis! That bastard..." Shun began storming off in the direction.

 

"Wait!" The Cipher duelist said, grabbing Shun's arm. "Don't go after him."

 

"He greenlit the invasion and got Ruri kidnapped!" 

 

"And he carded himself after I dueled him on a boat to Academia and after he revealed the locations of Ruri and Rin. He's repented; let him go."

 

"Nii-san, I also forgave him, so please, let it go."

 

"Ruri..." Shun shook off Kaito's hand. "Fine." 

 

"I haven't seen Allen or Sayaka around," Yuto said, quickly changing the subject. "Where have they been?"

 

"Off looking for missing people at the outskirts of Heartland City. Oh, I see them now. Who's with them...." Kaito trailed off, and an astonished expression took over his face. "Haru...to?"

 

Sure enough, a small boy with light blue hair was with Sayaka and Allen. His face lit up as his eyes landed on his older brother. "Nii-san! NII-SAN!" He began rushing over to his older brother.

 

"Haruto!" The Cipher duelist cried with joy, catching his brother in his arms. "Thank goodness...." Tears of happiness flowed from his grey eyes.

 

Ruri wiped a tear at the emotional scene, while Mizael and the Photon duelist exchanged smiles. The latter had activated Photon mode as to differentiate himself from the Cipher duelist, and he smiled fondly at the sight of his counterpart reuniting with his long-lost little brother. 

 

Haruto looked up from his brother's shoulder, and gasped as he saw the Photon duelist. "Whoa! You look just like nii-san!"

 

Kaito smiled and stood up, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Meet Tenjo Kaito. He's from another timeline."

 

"That's so cool! What's your world like? Do I have someone who looks like me there? Can I go there?"

 

The Photon duelist chuckled. "It's also called Heartland, and yes, you exist in that world as well, but I don't think you going there is a good idea."

 

Haruto pouted momentarily before another question popped into his mind. "Who are you then?" Haruto asked, looking at Mizael.

 

Drawing himself up, Mizael smirked. "I'm the greatest Dragon Tamer in existence--"

 

"Second only to me," the Photon duelist cut in with a snicker. "He may look young, but he's actually quite old. Maybe 500 years, I think?"

 

"You know..." Mizael said in a mock offended tone. "At least I tamed _real_  dragons. They existed when I was first alive, unlike now."

 

Mizael and the Photon duelist started bickering good-naturedly while Haruto giggled at their antics. The Cipher duelist smiled fondly at his younger brother and turned to Shun. "I have to thank you again for getting them here and saving all of us."

 

"I felt like they did the majority of the work anyways," Shun replied. "I'm just glad things worked out the way they did."

 

A beeping alerted the Raidraptors duelist to check his pocket, and he pulled out the D-Gazer. "Hello?" Nearby, Mizael and Kaito stopped arguing and were looking at Shun.  

 

Shun flinched as the sounds of static hit his ears, and he squinted at the display. "Hello?"

 

_"Kuro--good--Kaito--"_

"Chris?!" Kaito said as he snatched the D-Gazer. "Chris! Is that you?"

 

Static fizzled through the screen before clearing, and Shun could see Christopher Arclight's face appear. _"Thank goodness this call came through! I wasn't sure if it was going to connect, but I used the data from Kurosaki's Duel Disk and the residual power from your Galaxy-Eyes to connect to your D-Gazer. How's everything going?"_

"Everything's fine. We've pretty much saved Kurosaki's world. How long has it been back home?"

 

_"Two days."_

"Is there any way to get back home?"

 

_"Ah, yes, give me a few seconds."_ Shun could faintly hear Christopher typing away, and waited. _"Okay, give me the current state of the 4 dimensions. Are they connected in any way?"_

"Let me speak," Yuto said, and Kaito handed over the D-Gazer. "The 4 dimensions are stable and are connected with portals. Once you enter a portal, there is a glowing white bridge which you must cross in order to get over to another dimension. The space in between the dimensions appears similar to a wormhole path."

 

"How do you know all that?" Shun asked Yuto. 

 

"I had to travel across the dimensions to find your body. I wound up Heartland and had to go to the Fusion Dimension to get you back home. Akaba Reiji helped out as well and explained the situation behind the 4 dimensions."

 

Shun scowled at Reiji's name but subsided when Kaito took back the D-Gazer. "Chris, any idea?"

 

_"Considering what your friend said--"_

"My name's Yuto," the Phantom Knights duelist called. 

 

_"Considering what Yuto said, I believe you should be able to get home channeling the power of your Galaxy-Eyes while in one of those paths. I'll handle part of the teleporting process as I can track you and Mizael through your D-Gazer and use the teleportation device to get you back home."_

 

"Understood. Thanks, Chris, we'll see you later then."

 

_"Be safe, Kaito, Mizael. Also, although I didn't know you for long, Kurosaki Shun, it was nice meeting you. I hope your world will remain peaceful."_

"Thanks."

 

Kaito shut off the call and pocketed his D-Gazer. "Trust Chris to be able to contact us while we're in another world. I think Mizael and I should get going now. Where's the portal?"

 

"I can lead you guys there," Yuto said. "It's not that far away. If we leave now it's only going to take around 5 minutes."

 

"Good, then let's go," Mizael said. 

 

"I'll be staying behind," the Cipher duelist said. "I'm going to help out Allen and Sayaka. There's no reason for me to go anywhere now."

 

"You don't want to come with us, Kaito?"

 

Kaito shook his head with a faint smile on his face. "Go without me." He turned to Mizael and the Photon duelist. "This is goodbye, isn't it?" He held out his hand. "I enjoyed dueling with you."

 

Mizael grasped his hand. "One of these days, we'll have an actual duel."

 

Kaito smiled confidently. "Bring it." He turned to the Photon duelist, and the two shook hands. "You better take care of Haruto."

 

"Of course," the Photon duelist said with a quick smile. "We'll meet again." The two grinned at each other before the Photon duelist turned to Haruto, kneeling down to meet his eyes. "Be good to your nii-san."

 

"Okay, nii-san number 2!"

 

Everyone laughed at Haruto's words and Kaito ruffled Haruto's hair. "He acts exactly like my brother. Come on, let's go."

 

Yuto began walking in another direction, Ruri, Shun, Mizael and Kaito following him. The two Dragon Tamers turned back to wave at the Cipher duelist, before they disappeared into the distance.

 

"Are we going to see them again, nii-san?" Haruto asked.

 

"Maybe one day, Haruto. One day."

* * *

"This is it," Yuto said, stopping in front of a spiraling white portal glowing with energy. "If you go inside, you'll be walking on the bridge."

 

"Interesting," Kaito said. He turned to Shun, but before he could say anything, Shun spoke. 

 

"Thank you for helping me out when I ended up in your world. Without you or Mizael, Zarc would have destroyed us all."

 

"It's nothing," Kaito said. "Battling here...meeting my counterpart...I've realized there's so much more to our worlds. I hope Heartland gets rebuilt soon."

 

"What he said," Mizael said. "Your world's pretty intriguing. I don't know if we'll meet again, but if we do, tell me more about the dimensions."

 

"And you'll obviously want to duel," Shun said with a smile.

 

Mizael smirked.

 

Yuto and Ruri turned to the two Dragon Tamers. "Thank you for pulling me and the others from the darkness," Yuto said. 

 

"I think you should be saying thanks to Ruri, since she and Ray did it. We just helped with Ray's rebirth."

 

"Thanks for that," Ruri said with a smile. 

 

"I suppose we should get going now," Kaito said. "Bye." He walked forward and vanished into the portal.

 

Mizael waved before following Kaito into the portal, vanishing as well. 

 

The remaining three watched the portal for a while before Shun stretched and began walking away. "Let's get back to Sayaka and the others."

 

"Okay."

 

"Coming, nii-san."

 

* * *

"So, how do we pull this off?" Mizael asked. They were standing on a glowing white walkway, the rest of their surroundings pitch-black. 

 

"Would've been easier if you still had a Baria Crystal," Kaito replied as he summoned Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. 

 

Mizael huffed and summoned Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon. "I'm not going to answer that."

 

Photon turned to regard Kaito with its starry eye. _**"When Tachyon and I say so, jump off the walkway. We will do the rest."**_

__

"Got it. Thanks, Photon."

 

Tachyon merely looked at Mizael as if to tell him to listen. 

 

_**"3, 2, 1, now!"** _

__

Mizael and Kaito reached out and grabbed each other's hands before plunging into the inky black abyss. The darkness swallowed them whole and they eventually fell unconscious.

 

* * *

 

"We're back?"

 

"Welcome home, you two."

 

FIN


End file.
